Area teams recognized for academics

Players who develop daily habits leading to success in life will carry those same habits into the practices and games of their sports.

It is a philosophy of most coaches and, specifically, Washington baseball coach Nathan Miller, whose team is one of a few in the Union area of coverage that has been recognized for its academics.

'I believe when players see value within themselves, the value in being a part of the team and the impact they can have on the success of our team, they want to and will do what is necessary to be there for their teammates,” Miller said. 'We talk with our players about being personally responsible, to work towards being the best version of themselves possible. We have conversations about various daily habits that lead to success and how challenges and adversity are a way to help us grow and to find out what we are made of. We want our players to know what it means to grind through challenges and to learn that overcoming obstacles is much more fulfilling than giving up.”

The state associations have recognized various local teams for their academics.

Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Academic Achievement Awards for teams as of March 31 mentioned Union area teams.

Washington's teams that made the list were bowling, baskeball cheer, volleyball, basketball and cross country. New London's volleyball team was also recognized and Hillcrest had volleyball, basketball and cross-country teams.

'It is very important for student-athletes to stay focused on their academics during athletic participation,” New London volleyball coach Maureen Heath said. 'This reinforces our own ideas of goal setting, having a strong work ethic, and time management.”

Heath points out that these are skills that will carry them through all aspects of life.

'I have always been proud of the volleyball teams at New London concerning their academic achievements,” Heath said. 'Winning in the classroom is always important, and transfers over to the volleyball court. And that's always a good thing!”

Hillcrest's cross-country coach Martin Gingerich talks with his team before the season and has a contract with the runners that is in force during the season.

'It's not a topic we address on a regular basis,” Gingerich said. 'We read the contract at the beginning of the season. It speaks for itself.” Part of that contract says, 'You are enrolled at Hillcrest Academy to earn a high school diploma. That should be your first priority. There may be times you will need to focus on your studies enough that training will not happen as we would like. Remember your priorities.”

Hillcrest volleyball coach Tanna Boshart,” Our coaching staff does talk to the parents and players about the importance of academics at the beginning of the season. We seek to emphasize priorities in this way: God, family, academics, volleyball. We also talk about the importance of staying on top of your school work and maintaining academic eligibility as districts start just after the end of the first quarter. We need each person on the team to be available to play when we head into postseason games.”

Washington girls basketball coach Shannon Rugg said good grades are a matter of being a good teammate.

'We just try to talk about not letting your teammates down on or off the court,” he said. 'It is really the fact that we have good kids and that the parents do a great job of telling them that school comes first. I have always let kids miss practice if they have school work or have to meet with a teacher. I have always said school comes first.”

Miller also stresses the affect academics have on teammates.

'We inform players about their impact on the program and how their teammates are counting on them to be available to play during the regular season,” Miller said. 'We have them think about the negative impact they would have on the program if they were not eligible to play.”

The Iowa High School Athletic Association has two levels of recognition for teams. Excellence in Academics is considered a grade point average of 3.00-3.24 and Distinguished in Academics is 3.25 and above.

Washington had three boys teams in the distinguished category with baseball (3.37), golf (3.64) and track and field (3.25) while cross-country (3.10) was in the excellence division.

Steve Roth coaches Washington boys track.

'We just stress to them a lot that grades will get them further than sports,” Roth said.

Two area football teams also made the excellence list with Highland (3.02) and New London (3.22).

Miller has carried over some lessons he learned in collega and applied them with the Demons.

'My college baseball coach instilled a mindset within his program that your habits off the field will reflect over to your success on the field,” Miller said. 'We strive to instill this same philosophy with all of our players.”

Many times coaches are not just teaching the fundamentals of a sport, but the basics to a successful life after school.

'Overall, we want kids to be dedicated to everything they do, which is no different than what will be asked of them as adults,” Miller said. 'We do our best to prepare our players to be great dads, husbands, and future employees. This begins with the habits they develop towards their academics, then branching out to all of their extracurricular activities.”