• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Baltimore Sports Today

Baltimore Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Football
    • Ravens
    • Redskins
  • Baseball
    • Nationals
    • Orioles
  • Basketball
    • Mystics
    • Wizzards
  • Capitals
  • Soccer
    • Blast
    • D.C. United
    • Spirit
  • Colleges
    • George Mason
    • George Washington University
    • Georgetown
    • Howard
    • Johns Hopkins
    • Morgan State
    • Towson
    • University of Maryland

Pandemic downtime enabled student-athletes to focus on academics

September 13, 2021 by GW Hatchet Leave a Comment

A record number of student-athletes were named to the Atlantic 10 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll this past academic year.

The Atlantic 10 named 274 GW student-athletes to the Atlantic 10 Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll in the 2020-21 academic year, recording a combined 3.5 GPA throughout the pandemic, according to an Athletic Department release. Student-athletes said extra downtime during virtual classes and assistance from their academic advisers enabled them to focus on their academic work during the pandemic.

“The emphasis that we put on success isn’t just limited to the gym,” junior gymnast Hannah Munnelly said. “It goes to all aspects of our life, especially in the classroom. We’re students first, athletes second. We really just take that mindset with us everywhere.”

Twenty-six teams held at least a combined 3.0 GPA during the spring, with 257 student-athletes obtaining at least a 3.5 average. Nearly 50 student-athletes recorded a 4.0 GPA, while 378 student-athletes held a 3.0 GPA and above overall, according to the release.

Men’s tennis led all GW sports programs in the spring with a combined 3.91 team GPA, followed by gymnastics with a 3.82. Women’s soccer registered a 3.74 mark, followed by golf with a 3.71 and women’s cross country and track with a 3.67.

The A-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection includes only student-athletes with a cumulative 3.0 GPA in conference-sponsored sports during the academic year. The honor was given to 14 schools last academic year, amounting to a total of 3,849 student-athletes to top the previous record by 88 students.

Sixteen gymnasts were named to the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association Scholastic All-American list. The Colonials placed 14th overall among a pool of 75 schools across the nation, leaping 26 ranks from the previous year, according to an August Athletic Department release.

Senior gymnast Deja Chambliss, a first-time honoree, said the extra downtime during the pandemic allowed her and her teammates more opportunities to concentrate on their schoolwork. The team worked in study groups to help each other with assignments, she said.

“If there was one thing that came out of COVID, we had time to just put it into our schoolwork,” Chambliss said. “And we did exactly that.”

A recent study by the Colorado State University demonstrated that the pandemic allowed student-athletes to better focus on their academic responsibilities, allowing them to acquire academic independence from many of the tutoring centers that were eliminated during the pandemic. The study pointed to an increase of .16 in the overall cumulative athlete GPA from the previous semester, outranking the general student body GPA by .049.

She said participating in gymnastics taught her how to be disciplined from a young age, which has helped her manage her academics in between the hours spent at gymnastics practice and her classes.

“Gymnastics helped us organize our lives, basically for college, and we didn’t even know it as a 15-year-old,” Chambliss said. “And then on the focus aspect of it, we have to focus on one event at a time. If I’m on beam, I’m not thinking about bar. So if I’m in psychology, I’m not thinking about biology.”

Munnelly, who earned the WCGA Scholastic All-American award for the second time, said gymnastics made her more adaptable, helping shape her studying habits and work ethic in school despite the struggles she may have had in a particular subject.

“Even if it’s not my favorite thing, I still have to do it,” Munnelly said. “Even if beam isn’t my favorite event, I still have to train beam. Even if I am terrible at sitting down and focusing on reading, I’ll find a way to break it up so that it’s easier for me.”

Munnelly said she sought help from her academic adviser after struggling with an art history exam and learned how to properly write and structure a college paper.

“She was like, ‘Okay, take a deep breath,’” Munnelly said. “We’re gonna figure this out together. This isn’t the end of the world. This is probably the first exam of hundreds of exams you’re gonna take in college.’ Then we just sat down at my paper and she was like, ‘Okay, I think this is what they’re looking for.’”

Chambliss said she also made use of the resources provided by the Carbonell Center which offers networking services, mentorship and financial literacy programs, and one on one career coaches. She said one of those career coaches, Julia Brown, helped students with “professional competencies” to assist the transition to life after being a student-athlete because gymnastic sports “won’t last forever.”

“We know we came here for school first, athletics is just a plus,” Chambliss said. “So I think that’s why this award meant so much to gymnastics because we have the athletics part, to get the academics on top of that is so much greater.”

Roman Bobek contributed reporting.

Filed Under: George Washington University

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Dolphins hire Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator
  • DeVonta Smith sets up Miles Sanders touchdown, Eagles lead 7-0
  • Justin Herbert undergoes surgery on his left shoulder
  • Josh Johnson in for Brock Purdy, who injured his elbow on first drive
  • Expedited replay process fails to spot Eagles incompletion on key fourth down

Categories

  • Baseball
    • Nationals
    • Orioles
  • Basketball
    • Mystics
    • Wizzards
  • Capitals
  • Colleges
    • George Mason
    • George Washington University
    • Georgetown
    • Howard
    • Morgan State
    • Navy
    • Towson
    • University of Maryland
  • Football
    • Ravens
    • Redskins
  • Soccer
    • Blast
    • D.C. United
    • Spirit

Archives

Our Partners

All Sports

  • 247 Sports
  • Bleacher Report
  • CBS Baltimore
  • Forgotten 5
  • NBC Sports Washington
  • Maryland Sports Blog
  • OurSports Central
  • PressBoxOnline.com
  • The Baltimore Sun
  • The Baltimore Wire
  • The Sports Daily
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today
  • Washington Post
  • Washington Times

Baseball

  • MLB.com - Orioles
  • MLB.com - Nationals
  • Baltimore Baseball
  • Birds Watcher
  • Camden Chat
  • District On Deck
  • Federal Baseball
  • Last Word On Baseball - Nationals
  • Last Word On Baseball - Orioles
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Nationals
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Orioles
  • Nationals Arm Race
  • Orioles Hangout

Basketball

  • NBA.com
  • WNBA.com
  • Amico Hoops
  • Bullets Forever
  • High Post Hoops
  • Hoops Hype
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball
  • Pro Basketball Talk
  • Real GM
  • Wiz Of Awes

Football

  • Baltimore Ravens
  • Washington Redskins
  • Baltimore Beatdown
  • Baltimore Gridiron Report
  • Ebony Bird
  • Hogs Haven
  • Last Word On Pro Football - Washington Commanders
  • Last Word On Pro Football - Baltimore Ravens
  • NFL Trade Rumors - Ravens
  • NFL Trade Rumors - Redskins
  • Our Turf Football - Ravens
  • Our Turf Football - Redskins
  • Pro Football Rumors - Ravens
  • Pro Football Rumors - Redskins
  • Pro Football Talk - Redskins
  • Pro Football Talk - Ravens
  • Redskins Gab
  • Ravens Wire
  • Redskins Wire
  • Riggos Rag
  • Total Ravens

Hockey

  • Washington Capitals
  • Elite Prospects
  • Japers Rink
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • Stars And Sticks
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • Baltimore Blast
  • Black And Red United
  • Last Word on Soccer - DC United
  • Last Word on Soccer - Spirit
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • Big East Coast Bias
  • Busting Brackets
  • Casual Hoya
  • College Football News
  • College Sports Madness
  • Fourth Estate
  • GW Hatchet
  • Saturday Blitz
  • The Diamondback
  • The Hilltop
  • The Hoya
  • Testudo Times
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in