By Hannah Sheer

Johnson County Community College recently held their annual Academic Success Night ceremony to celebrate the achievements of student athletes. The ceremony emphasized the impressive 3.43 cumulative GPA the athletes managed to hold in the fall semester.

This is not an easy accomplishment, so how do these athletes manage to balance the workload of being a full-time student on top of performing well in athletics?

KJCCC pitcher of the week for the Cavaliers softball team Brielle Dee, acknowledges that “putting in the work for the classroom can be difficult, but having a space to focus on my work really helps.”

Dee also mentions that being pushed by her teammates and having efficient communication with her professors are large contributors to her success on and off the field.

“Having spaces like the academic achievement center (AAC) to have alone time to lock in forces me to work harder and get assignments done on time,” Dee added.

It truly does take an army, because not only do the players want to maintain good grades, but the coaches want that for them as well.

JCCC Head Women’s Basketball coach Ben Conrad explains that there are several resources around campus he uses to help his girls succeed. So, while his team is maintaining an undefeated record on the court, they are also maintaining good grades in the classroom as well.

Conrad shows he has his athletes’ best interest at heart by having team rules about class attendance as well as meeting with players to discuss how they are doing in their classes, and offering resources to guide them.  

“We try to figure out who on our roster might need a little help and nudge them in the direction of those resources,” Conrad explains.

He also mentions that his goal is for his players to “finish the year strong and give the same kind of effort in the spring that they gave in the fall”.

These accomplishments do not go unnoticed by JCCC’s athletic director Tony Tompkins. 

“[I’m]proud to have our student-athletes represent JCCC both on campus and in the community,” Tompkins says.  “Our student-athletes work extremely hard and put in a lot of extra time and energy to be successful.” 

Tompkins also explains that there are many people who help behind the scenes that deserve recognition for the success of JCCC’s athletic programs.

“I am also grateful for the JCCC coaching staff, support staff, counselors, administration, and faculty which have provided great direction, support, and a quality education for our student-athletes to achieve their goals in moving onto the next level,” he mentions.

Ultimately, there are many contributors to the success of Johnson County Community College’s athletic programs in and out of the classroom, but at the end of the day it all rides on the athlete. How they choose to use the resources they are given is on them, but the results of when they succeed will not go unnoticed.