Last week, five softball players were awarded Easton/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Scholar-Athlete honors for the 2019 season. The winners for the individual achievement were Elle Adams ’22, Kaylie Eiden ’21, Emily Jordan ’19, Maddie Matsubara ’22 and Lily Seibert ’19. The requirement to earn the highly-coveted MWC Academic All-Conference award is a 3.33 GPA or higher throughout the academic year; however, in order to win the NFCA Scholar-Athlete Award, student-athletes must post a GPA of 3.5 or higher throughout the year.
The players note that maintaining a 3.5 GPA while playing a sport in college can be very difficult. Hence, they were thrilled to have their hard work recognized by such a reputable award. “I was injured this past year, but I still dedicate a lot of my time to the sport. In-season, you have to commit 15-20 hours to your sport, or something like that. So it’s nice to feel recognized for academic achievement as well as being on the softball team,” Eiden said.
Being a student-athlete brings on its own unique set of challenges and difficulties, and in order to do well in the classroom, players had to learn how to adjust their habits. “With traveling, it was difficult to manage the workload. I had to learn how to work on the bus and work in places where I didn’t really want to work. But you just learn to do whatever it takes to succeed,” Matsubara said.
Notably, Adams and Matsubara were the only two first-years to win the award. Yet, they claim that adapting to the demands of being a college student-athlete was not too difficult of a transition. “Playing softball my whole life has prepared me to balance the workload of school and playing a sport. Being a student-athlete at Grinnell is just a continuation of that, except the classes are a lot harder at Grinnell,” Adams said. For Matsubara, the balancing act is well-known. “Balancing school and softball is something I’ve been doing my whole life,” Matsubara said.
In terms of the MWC, many other schools had a similar amount, if not more, of their student-athletes win the NFCA Scholar-Athlete Award. However, as Adams said, some of that could potentially have something to do with the difficulty of classes at Grinnell. Regardless, the players who won the award agree that Grinnell creates a friendly environment that makes it easier for student-athletes to succeed.
“I think the best part about Grinnell is the number of resources we have that are willing to help out, and professors that are willing to be understanding about athletics,” Eiden said. Despite late nights, focusing lots on time management and traveling, players feel that being a student-athlete in college is absolutely worthwhile. “I love the sports culture and being a part of the student-athlete population at Grinnell, and I like how other student-athletes are able to understand the difficulties of managing your workload,” Adams said.
