Golf is a unique sport that challenges the player intellectually as well as physically. That being said, it is no surprise that North Central College’s golf teams hold their players to a high academic standard.
Men’s golf coach Steve Sellers holds strong to these expectations. When Sellers was named head coach of men’s golf in August of 2015, the team had the lowest GPA of all fall sports at North Central. He knew that his players were taking hard courses but believed that there was no excuse for those grades.
“We’re not gonna be last in line,” Sellers said. “It was time to set some goals.”
Sellers began implementing rules, starting with giving his players mandatory study table hours.
“All freshmen are required to attend EDGE for eight hours a week, as well as anyone under a 3.0 GPA,” said Sellers. “The freshman did really well with these rules and we have seen improvement all around.”
The women’s golf head coach, Tye Thompson, runs his program to a different tune. There are no EDGE requirements for his golfers, yet they surpassed every other sport this fall with the highest team average GPA.
Without giving mandatory study hall hours and enforcing academic guidelines for his athletes to follow, some may wonder how they ended up being so successful. Thompson says, “they just need to look at what they really want. Us coaches are facilitators. We just give them the guidance of what it means to get a quality education.”
Thompson often uses the quote, “find you and stay you,” to help his players understand that they just have to go out every day and be the best that they can be, both on the golf course and in the classroom. That resonates for a lot of golfers on the team.
“When I was just a prospective student, I had an overnight visit and the next morning we got breakfast with Coach Thompson and he told us right away that we are student-athletes. Academics always come first,” said Kelly Vazquez, a senior on the team. “Even if we have to miss a lot of practice because of all the hard work with school, [Coach Thompson] was so understanding. He knows it’s really important to be academically sound.”
Vazquez definitely puts in a lot of hard work as she finishes up her senior year as a physics major. She has earned a spot on the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholar Team, along with two of her other teammates, junior Paige Candra and senior Kayla Koenig. These three athletes, along with junior Rachel Herzberger and junior Megan Kelly, earned the Academic All-CCIW award as well.
Even though Coach Thompson puts a lot of emphasis on academics, the success on the course for this team is not lacking at all. Candra and junior Nicole Dutz earned All-CCIW honors while the team took third place overall in the CCIW tournament with help from Koenig, Kelly, Herzberger and Vazquez.
“I believe that golf mirrors life,” Thompson said. “Golf teaches life lessons. What you learn carries out to more than classrooms, but everyday life.”
He adds, “It is an understatement to say that I’m proud of these young ladies and how they apply themselves in the classroom and on the golf course. They truly know the commitment those things take and it proves their discipline to be so successful.”
