From kicking a goal to shooting hoops and from staying up to do homework, student athletes have demonstrated that they can excel in their chosen sport as well as academics.

According to school policy, athletes must maintain a 2.0 grade point average or higher to remain on a school team. All coaches enforce this policy, while players strive to meet it.

CHARGING FOR THE GOAL

The girls’ soccer team practice every weekday for two and half hours to prepare for their games. In one season, players compete in about 24 games, with as many as three games a week.

Junior Megan Gainous, varsity captain, states that soccer sometimes keeps her up until an unreasonable time to complete homework, but it isn’t difficult to manage school and soccer because she balances her time wisely.

“I’d say throughout the whole season I’ll have five late nights where I’m up at an unreasonable time, till midnight doing homework because of soccer,” Gainous said.

Gainous is currently enrolled in one Advanced Placement class and three honors classes. She admits to having lower grades during soccer season, so she sometimes misses practice in order to catch up on schoolwork.

“Schoolwork is always important to me,” she said, “but during soccer I tend to study less for my classes because I have to balance the time with sports and school.”

Danny O’Donnell, varsity soccer coach, has a policy that if the players have trouble keeping up with their homework, he will allow them to miss practice. Players take advantage of this policy and take time off occasionally.

If a player falls under 2.0 GPA, O’Donnell will not permit her to play until she has pulled her grades up. O’Donnell has had to sit out players only twice in his 11 years of coaching.

Playing soccer gives Gainous more than what the average student has: motivation and a feeling of achievement. Soccer helps her make good grades because she knows if she doesn’t she won’t be able to continue playing.

“I plan on playing soccer no matter what!” Gainous said. “Soccer is a part of my life; it makes up a big part of me. I guarantee if I didn’t play soccer, I wouldn’t be a happy person and my grades would probably suffer due to my unhappiness.”

To recognize achievement in school, O’Donnell gives players academic awards at the end-of-the-season banquet. Usually, three or four players earn these.

According to O’Donnell, “Any player with straight A’s for the fall semester will receive an award.” O’Donnell also pointed out that during his tenure at Lincoln, the soccer team has had one valedictorian, one salutatorian and members of clubs like the National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta.

Gainous’ advice to other players is to “try and keep your time balanced between your sport and school. But don’t get too caught up in either. Remember, high school is supposed to be fun.”

DOMINATING THE COURT

“The champ is here,” says 6’7" senior basketball player Brandon Green as he enters Debbie Shepard’s fourth-period AP Lit. class.

Although this statement may seem arrogant coming from any student, but for this senior, it fits well. He is one of those student athletes who has balance between schoolwork and commitment to a sport.

He has played basketball 11 plus years and has scholarship offers from colleges like Charleston Southern in South Carolina and Youngstown State in Ohio.

Despite his responsibilities on the court, Green now prioritizes school first then basketball.

“Last year, I put basketball before school, and my grades suffered,” Green said. “This year, school is first.”

Green has bettered his career on and off the court. “He has made great strides from last year,” varsity coach Paul O’Halloran said.

Green is enrolled in one AP and four honors courses this year. These classes require time management skills, especially when paired with playing a sport.

The team spends 15 hours a week in practice.

It becomes a juggling match for student athletes to keep up with schoolwork, sports and parental pressure. O’Halloran said that the players do better in school during the season.

“Time management is critical during the season,” he said.

After a long day of basketball, Green tackles schoolwork when “I feel rested.”

Green said his parents believe he is smart and expect schoolwork to come easy for him. “Verbally, they say work hard in basketball, but they also nonverbally stress the importance of school,” Green explained.

O’Halloran said that whenever a player is struggling in a class, he will “send him in for extra help even if it means missing a practice.”

On the other hand, if a player is accelerating in his academics, O’Halloran uses him as a role model for the other players.

“He sets great examples for younger teammates by being understanding about playing time,” O’Halloran says about Green.

Other student athletes could take some advice from this “champ”: “Do what you believe in. You can be the best. But without the grades, you aren’t going anywhere.”