When someone decides to take on the role of an athlete, especially at the Division I level, it comes with sacrifice, commitment and struggle.
It is common knowledge that being a college athlete is more demanding than being a member of any other student organization. While it is easy to identify student-athletes only by their sport, student-athletes want to be known for more than the winning basket, the killer butterfly stroke, the matching uniforms and the 2000-point meal plan.
Student-athletes practice 20 hours a week while in season and eight hours a week during offseason, said Kevin Green, academic services coordinator for the Pepperdine Athletics Department.
Despite these long hours, Pepperdine’s student-athletes are making a name for themselves in other arenas. Pepperdine athletes are consistently overcoming obstacles, challenging stereotypes, succeeding academically and “competing with purpose,” according to Pepperdine Athletics’ motto.
“We are not just trying to build good athletes, we are not just trying to build good students,” said Roger Horne, director of Communications for the Pepperdine Athletics Department. “Hopefully by the time (the athletes) finish their time at Pepperdine, they will be perfectly well-rounded individuals.”
Horne’s statement correlates with the beliefs of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, “which has maintained for decades that its primary goal is to help scholar-athletes receive an education that would prepare them for life beyond sports,” according to its website.
Despite insistence from the NCAA and Pepperdine, it appears that “student” often lives in the shadow of “athlete.”
“It seems like athletes don’t have time to do anything but be athletes,” said Chase Patton, a junior business administration major. “It’s not their fault, obviously — they have a huge time commitment to their sports … but it seems like academics and involvement on campus will never be more important than their sport.”
Several other non-athletes at Pepperdine agreed with Patton’s statement.
“I feel like on average, student-athletes’ grades are probably lower than non-athletes,” said Rachel Littauer, a junior journalism major, “but my grades would be lower as well if I had a full-time job playing a sport in addition to being a full-time student — so … that makes sense.”
It seems, however, that this image of student-athletes may be solely based on a perpetuated “dumb jock” stereotype — with lack of consideration of facts or the interests of student-athletes themselves.
In a fall 2015 survey, 67 non-athletes at Pepperdine were asked to predict how athletes would rate their interest in their sport and their academics on a scale of one to 10.
On average, the surveyed non-athletes inferred that athletes would rate their interest in their sport at about a 9. In comparison, they inferred that athletes would rate their interest in academics at a 6.2.
Additionally, 53 Pepperdine student-athletes were asked to rate their interest in both sports and academics on a scale of one to 10.
In contrast to the predictions made by non-athletes, the surveyed athletes rated interest in their sport at an average of 8.5, and their interest in academics at just above 9.
“There is definitely this widespread perception that student-athletes don’t care about their academics,” said Priscilla MacRae, a sports medicine professor at Pepperdine, “which I think is unfortunate because in the many years that I have been teaching, my athletes have been some of the hardest-working students that I’ve had.”
According to an official NCAA report, Pepperdine’s student-athletes had an overall graduation success rate of 90 percent for the 2014-2015 school year — a higher percentage than the national average for Division I athletes.
Additionally, NCAA records hold that Pepperdine athletes averaged an academic progress rate above 97 percent for the 2014-2015 school year. This means that during the last academic year, almost every student-athlete at Pepperdine who received financial aid from Athletics both stayed in school and remained academically eligible.
Not only are student-athletes at Pepperdine prioritizing their academics, but they also appear to be prioritizing involvement in the community.
Student-athletes Jett Raines and Jimmy Gehrels are channeling their passions and interests as they aim to become more involved in non-athletic activities at Pepperdine.
Raines, a senior men’s basketball player, displayed his musical talents at a Board-sponsored Coffeehouse on Friday, Sept. 18.
“Music is one of my biggest passions in life,” said Raines, a computer science major. “It became more so of a hobby toward the latter days of high school when I was getting serious about basketball, so it was incredible getting to perform in front of an audience again.
“I don’t think people who don’t know me would have expected me to be performing at a Coffeehouse,” Raines continued. “I think a lot of times with athletes it’s assumed that they’re just good at one thing: their sport.”
This year, Jimmy Gehrels, a junior men’s volleyball player, became co-president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at Pepperdine — something he said helped him become more involved in the Pepperdine community as a whole.
“I want to be able to invest in more than just volleyball at Pepperdine,” said Gehrels, a sports administration major. “Through my position with SAAC, I get to interact with a number of leaders across campus … In a way, I sort of get to be the face of student-athletes to the broader Pepperdine community, which I’ve loved so far.”
Additionally, service has become a popular way for student-athletes to become involved in their community.
“As I get older, I’m beginning to find it important to identify myself outside of my sport,” said Katie Engel, senior women’s cross-country runner. “Running has been such a central focus in my life that I haven’t always been willing to invest time and energy in lots of other outside things. However, gaining more real-world experience through community service has allowed me to start to explore other things that provide me with the level of joy and fulfillment I get from running.”
Senior men’s basketball player Stacy Davis recently visited the Midnight Mission in Los Angeles to help feed the homeless. Davis said addressing social injustices such as homelessness is something that has become important to him and should be a priority to all athletes.
“I think that social justice is a huge issue,” said Davis, an organizational communication major. “A lot of times athletes aren’t asked to give their perspective on social issues, so I think helping in that environment would … enable us to express ourselves and show that we are mindful of what’s going on around us.”
Davis shares an interest in social justice issues and community service with several other Pepperdine athletes.
“The fact that I can help provide people with resources that they need to survive motivates me to serve,” said Rachel Rant, a senior women’s cross-country runner. “I have led our cross-country Step Forward Day group for the last two years. I also worked for the Pepperdine Microenterprise Program this summer, which helps homeless people start their own businesses.”
In addition to service throughout the community, some Pepperdine student-athletes had the unique opportunity to enrich their college experience outside of athletics by studying abroad, despite the demands of their schedule.
Junior water polo player Grant Rawlins spent spring 2015 studying abroad in Florence, Italy.
“(Studying abroad) was an experience I will never forget,” Rawlins said. “I think I grew a lot as an individual — being away from my sport and my team in a different country for a semester. I got to immerse myself in a different culture, and a different community … I made friends with students that I never would have met had I not gone to Italy.”
Sophomore Sarah Landers also had the opportunity to spend a semester abroad as a Pepperdine student-athlete.
“I wanted to look at my college and life experience as a whole and not just in terms of my athletic career,” said Landers, a cross-country runner who is currently studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. “My experience in Argentina has taught me so much about myself and others, as well as allowed me to forge some lifelong friendships. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to live and study here.”
Carrie Arnold completed this story in Dr. Christina Littlefield’s fall 2015 Jour 241 class.
