by Joey Lavoie ’14

This year, Sherwood fielded 1074 student athletes across 46 varsity and JV sports, all of whom faced the challenge of balancing athletic performance, a minimum 2.0 GPA and the everyday struggles of the normal high school student.

In spite of the time crunch to participate in practices and games on top of going to school, many of Sherwood’s athletes are highly successful in the classroom. According to student-athlete GPA analysis collected by Athletic Director Kathy Green, 74 percent of students athletes thus far this school year have achieved a 3.0 GPA or better during the season in which they play a sport. These students receive a Scholar Athlete Certificate for achieving this GPA. By comparison, approximately 60 percent of all Sherwood students had better than 3.0 for their overall quarterly GPA through three quarters thus far this school year.

“Playing sports helps you focus on your GPA because you realize if you ever want a scholarship for your sport, you need to have a top-notch GPA to be noticed by schools,” said sophomore Tanner Jacob, who participates in JV football and basketball, and also runs track and field during the spring.

Some athletes go above and beyond in the classroom during their athletic seasons. Ninety-nine of Sherwood’s athletes were able to maintain a 4.0 unweighted GPA during same time that they were playing sports. These athletes bring it upon themselves to dominate on the field and in the classrooms, the time and effort they are forced to put in is unmatched.

“It’s a lot of work with games and daily practice but staying organized helps a lot,” said junior pom Kimberly Vielhaber, who had a 4.0 while participating in poms. “Sometimes I have to stay up late to get everything done, but it’s worth it because I love poms and I know it’s what I have to do to keep up my grades.”

In addition to individual athletes striving for excellence, teams as a whole excel in the classroom, with girls’ indoor track, cross country, gymnastics and JV softball all consisting of squads in which every athlete had a 3.00 GPA or better during the sports season. There are disparities in the academic performance from one team to the next. While 93 percent of girls’ volleyball teams had a 3.0 or better and 73 percent had a 3.25 GPA or better, 53 percent of varsity football players had a 3.0 or better and 43 percent had above a 3.25. Three varsity football players also had below a 2.0 GPA during the football season. Just 33 percent of varsity wrestlers attained a 3.0 or better during the season, and 17 percent receive a 3.25 GPA or better.

For those student-athletes who do exceptionally well in school, the common denominator they all share is time-management skills. “It can be really difficult when I have a lot of work to do and practice on the same night, but I try to get my work done early or work on it when I have free time in school as much as possible,” said junior Natalie Sebeck, who plays varsity volleyball, basketball and lacrosse while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. “But playing sports actually tends to help me keep my grades up because it forces me to manage my time and do my work efficiently.”

Playing sports can be especially challenging for JV athletes who are often still getting used to the rigors and workload of high school. “Coming into Sherwood, I didn’t really know what I was going to have to face,” said freshman Kendall Kahn, who played both girls’ JV volleyball and coed volleyball. Like many athletes before her, she is figuring out how to balance school and sports. “I sort of just realized I need to perform academically in order to continue to play volleyball.”