Student-athletes are at the center of scholastic sports; unfortunately, at times, the athletic side of the equation gets a disproportionate amount of the publicity.
The Oak Harbor High School girls basketball team’s stat sheets were rather thin after some games this season. The players’ quarterly report cards, however, are anything but lightweight.
The athletes shine in the classroom, and, in that arena, “championship” is spelled with a whole lotta “A’s.”
Eight of the 11 varsity players sport grade-point averages of 3.5 or higher.
The group includes the team’s three captains, Hayley Lundstrom and Sierra Southwick, the Wildcats’ only seniors, and junior AnnaBelle Whitefoot; juniors Deja Bunch and Montana Koslowski; and sophomores Julie Jansen, Bryn Langrock and Lydia Peplinski.
The glossy grades sparkle that much brighter when noting the classes that fill the students’ schedules.
Southwick’s transcript, for example, is typical of this group’s work load. She has taken part in honors classes and pre-advance placement classes throughout high school and attended AP classes in calculus, language, literature and biology.
The players said the characteristics of a good student and a good athlete complement each other.
School and sports taught Southwick to “develop a strong work ethic and a good attitude.”
“You have to work really hard to do well,” she said, “but that is OK because I love basketball and school is important to me.”
The hard work, whether on the court or in the classroom, is easier, she said, when “surrounded by people who want to be there.”
“It helps you push yourself for a goal,” Jansen said. “Working for a good grade is like working hard in a sport.”
Athletics and school “pushes you to dedicate yourself to your work,” she added.
“Basketball teaches you that when something is hard, you just don’t quit,” Lundstrom said. “It is the same in the classroom — there is a parallel — you have to keep practicing.”
Lundstrom’s father, Dwight Lundstrom, is principal of Oak Harbor High School, and her mother, Shanna Lundstrom, teaches at North Whidbey Middle School, as does Southwick’s father, Philip Southwick.
Having educators as parents, they said, helped them develop a positive view about school and high expectations.
Lundstrom carries a 3.99 grade-point average; her only “blemish” was an “A-” in AP calculus.
“My parents always encourage my brothers and I to do well in school,” she said. “They aren’t all crazy about it, checking Skyward every day. They encourage, not push. I was more upset about the ‘A-’ than they were.”
Jansen, who owns the team’s only 4.0, has six older brothers and sisters, and all were good students and several excelled in sports and went on to compete collegiately.
“In my family, it is an expectation to do well in school and sports,” she said. She added she does not feel pressured to match the accomplishments of her siblings; instead, she uses their success as “motivation.”
Lundstrom and Jansen are three-sport athletes, saying time management is the key to balancing school, sports and a social life.
“Sometimes I miss out on things because of practice, but it is worth it,” Lundstrom said. “Besides, all my friends play sports. We talk about school before games and on the bus rides; we support one another.”
Coach Jon Atkins said it is a plus having dedicated students on the team.
They are analytical and “always want all the details” to better understand what he is emphasizing in practice and games.
They are especially astute, he added, at “picking things up in film sessions.”
Understanding the “little things” makes them better players, Atkins said.
And better students.
