Men’s soccer wins national academic honor

Mens soccer wins national academic honor

by Tyler LarsonStaff Writer

The Simpson men’s soccer team won the National Coaches Association of America Team Academic Award for the 2007-2008 academic year.

The team had to compile a 3.0 GPA to qualify for this award, and the team recorded a 3.01 GPA

“I am very proud of my team,” head coach Mike Wilson said. “It is nice to know that the guys I went out to recruit work very hard.”

The soccer team had 13 players with a GPA higher than 3.0. They also had nine athletes with a 3.6 or better and four with a 4.0.

“It just shows that the team are students before they are athletes,” Wilson said. “They just need to keep working hard and setting high goals.”

One player that helped the team achieve this goal was senior Evan Johnson.

“Our success shows that we are in the classroom as well as being on the field,” Johnson said. “I know I tried my best to find the little spots throughout the day to study, read or do whatever I had to do.”

Another player that also helped the team succeed in the classroom was sophomore Mike Miller.

“We have a lot of intelligent athletes on the team,” Miller said. “We all balanced our time really well.”

Balancing time is a major component of every soccer player’s life during the season.

“It is hard to balance your time in season with everything going on,” Johnson said. “With practice, school and friends you just have more things going on. I knew we would be ok because we have a lot of good students on the team.”

One thing that helped these athletes was using the Hawley Academic Resource Center.

“The guys who struggled went to Hawley and met with Kara May about time management,” Wilson said. “They made schedules and personal goals for themselves, and they greatly improved their grades.”

For Miller, his out of season schedule is basically the same as his in season schedule.

“I put in about the same amount of time everyday no matter if I am in or out of season,” Miller said. “I usually just put in a few hours of studying a day. It’s a commitment but not too overwhelming.”

The coaches and players on the team were not the only ones proud to receive this award.

“I have been getting calls from parents and alumni congratulating my team on their successes,” Wilson said. “With accomplishments like this it really helps our recruiting. We might be able to reach out to new athletes.”

This award not only reflects on the student athletes at Simpson, but it also shows how good of a job the faculty did.

“This really reflects how good of a job the faculty and especially the people in Hawley did,” Wilson said. “This institution should be very proud that our students think of academics first. We were the only men’s soccer team in the IIAC to receive this award.”

The team hopes to keep its grades up for next year too.

“I don’t think it will be that hard to keep our grades up,” Miller said. “We have a lot of bright people on the team still.”

Everyone on the team is excited and proud that they received this award and hope to keep up the success in the future.