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SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, April 7, 1993
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Athletes can't slide through KU
Story continued from Page 1.
Sport Science major General Education Requirements (48-53 hours)
Biological Sciences (13-16 hours)
any field that the athletes want to study.
BIOL 104: Principles of Biology lecture
BIOL 106: Principles of Biology lab
BIOL 300: Human Anatomy lecture
BIOL 301: Human Anatomy observation or
BIOL 302: Human Anatomy dissection
(required for pre-physical therapy)
BIOL 305: Human Physiology
BIOL 306: Principles of Human Physiology lab
(required for pre-physical therapy)
CHEM 182. College Chemistry on
the Campus of the University of
Chemical LAB 185. Fundamentals of
chemistry II
Mathematics (3-5 hours)
MATH 101: Algebra or
MATH 102: Precalculus or
MATH 115: Calculus I
(104 or 115 required for pre-physical therapy)
Language and Communications,
Behavioral Sciences, Social Science
1 hour full time
Physical Science (5 hours)
Sport Foundation Core (21 hours)
HPER 244: History and Foundations of Physical Education
HPER 248: First Aid
HPER 260: Personal and Community Health
HPER 269: Exercise and Fitness for Living
HPER 640: Psychology of Coaching
HPER 670: Kinesiology
HPER 672: Exercise Physiology
HPER 690: Sociology of Sport
Specialized Core. Pre-Physical Therapy (39 hours)
SOC ??? One upper division sociology course
HDL 220: Principles of Nutrition and Health in Development
HDL22 101: Principles of Nutrition and Health in Development
MCRB 120: Priminciples of Microbiology
MCRB 103: Introductory lab
PHMS 113: College Physical II
PHNS 115: College Physics II
PSYC 158: Abnormal Psychology
CHEM 188: Foundations of Chemistry II
MATH 365: Elementary Statistics
HPER 365: Evaluation of Physical Performance Tests
HPER 428: Prevention of Athletic Injuries
HPER 673: Clinical Fitness and Evaluation Techniques
HPER 680: Adaptive Physical Education and Recreation
Behavioral sciences, social science,
Humanities and/or Arts (27 total hours) Internship (16 hours)
"We make sure that they are aware of the requirements of the program they intend to or are majoring in," Buskirk said. "The final word of what classes a student athlete takes rests between them and their adviser, the way it should be."
Source: Dept. of Health, Physical Education and Recreation
But student athletes get plenty of help along the way.
Some faculty members volunteer to be academic advisers for athletes
Buskirk said that Student Support Services offers athletes tutoring, counseling and long-term planning and certifies their eligibility for the NCAA and Big Eight Conference.
Derek Nolen/KANSAN
"We've had many dealings with these people over the years," said Wayne Walden, associate director for Student Support Services. "We give the athletes the names of these faculty members so they can speak with them."
For some majors, though, Walden encourages the student athletes to talk with a faculty member in the major they plan to study.
"Some of the professional schools where they have specialized majors, such as engineering. I'd tell the athlete to just go over to their office and speak with someone there," he said.
Student Support Services also offers a mentor program, where a faculty member is paired with an athlete at the start of the athlete's freshman year. Student Support Services tries to pair the athlete with a faculty member in the major of choice.
"This mentor can be someone the athlete can talk about academics with, someone who is outside of the athletic department." Walden said.
Walden added that some mentor athlete relationships last only a year or two. Others last the athlete's entire stay at KU.
W whatever their advising path most athletes end up at the door of a faculty member in their chosen major. Often, that major is business.
Statistics released by Buskirk's office show that business is the most popular major among student athletes at KU. Twenty-two student athletes are business majors.
The 1992 senior survey of graduating students showed that business was also the most popular major of the entire class of 1992.
"We have a pretty rigorous curriculum," he said. "The average ACT score of students in the school is 25 and the average GPA is 3.1."
Joe Reitz, director of the undergraduate program in the School of Business, said he was mildly surprised when he learned that business was the most popular major among student athletes.
Reitz could not pinpoint an exact reason why business would be a popular major among student athletes, but he said that a degree in business would help students prepare for life as a whole.
"I've never thought of the athletes as a group in this school, never noticed more of them or fewer of them," he said. "The athletes that major in business probably see the degree as something that will be more likely to lead them to some professional career in business."
But golfer Jeff Moeller, Bartlesville, Okla., junior, said he would like to put his background in golf together with a degree in business from KU to stay involved with the sport.
"I've been playing golf since I was in the sixth grade, and I don't want to give it up," he said. "I want to stay in golf in some way, maybe as a representative for Footy or some other golf related companies. That's a way I could use my degree to stay involved with golf."
Moeller, who has a 3.26 GPA and is a three-time Phillips 66 Classroom Champion, is the type of KU student
athlete Reitz says he has been impressed with in his five years at the University.
"I have been impressed in the last few years with the academic abilities of the student athletes KU has admitted," he said. "KU has by far the best academically prepared student athletes and support program for the athletes."
Moeller is just one example of a KU athlete who is trying to combine athletics with a major outside the world of gymnasiums and stadiums.
Moeller's teammate Matt Gogel, Tulsa, Okla., junior, wanted to major in business, but, because he does not like math, he majored in communications.
"I would have had a hard time trying to keep up with things in business because we travel so much," he said. "In communications, I don't fall behind that much with the class work, and it helps me in the future with public relations."
Gogel said he would like to work in golf-related public relations if he is not able to make it playing professional golf
Kansas men's golf coach Ross Randall knows people in that profession that can help him get up in that field. Gogel said.
Communications and psychology are the second most popular majors of KU athletes, with 17 athletes in each department.
Edwin Martin, chairperson of the department of psychology, said, "I'm not surprised by anything, but I didn't know psychology was so popular with athletes."
He said that the general trend among college students was toward a liberal arts education.
"A general hiring trend in business is that they like people with a liberal arts and social science background for their training programs," he said.
But again, athletes in psychology see a natural mix of major and sport that the academic administrators do not.
"Swimming is so mental," he said. "I was in the lane next to the American record holder from UCLA, Andrea Cecchi, and the race was lost before I entered the water.
Stevens said he was psyched out after his loss in the 200-yard breaststroke at last year's NCAA Championships in Indianapolis.
Swimmer Zhawn Stevens, Enid, Okla, senior, said he applied his studies in sports psychology every time he prepares for a meet.
According to the 1992 senior survey, these are the top five majors which students most often chose.
Popular courses according to seniors
"It's amazing to see people have good times throughout the year and come to a meet like the Big Eight and go worse times than they did all year. That's got to be mental. There's noth-
Class of 1992
1. Business 200
2. Psychology 182
3. Political Science 124
4. Current Instruction 124
5. Advertising 123
Current Athletes
Source: Student Support Services
ing physical about it.'
1. Business 22
2. Psychology 17
3. Medicine 17
4. Sports Science 16
5. Physical Education 9
Of course there are still quite a few athletes who get "physical" when it comes to school
Sports science, also known as exercise science, appeals to student athletes because they want to go into a profession that is related to health and the body, said Wayne Osness, chairperson of the department of health, physical education and recreation. He said that student athletes usually were concerned about their health and their bodies and that was why the major was a popular choice.
Andrew Arnone / KANSAN
work.
Wayne Ossness, head of the health, physical education and recreation department, said the number of exercise science majors, a popular major among student athletes, had doubled at KU in the last five years.
"Exercise science is a growing field for athletes," Osnes said. "We have doubled the number of majors in this program in the last five years."
There is a perception that sports science is an easy major that is geared toward student athletes. Not so, says Osness.
"It is not the easiest major program on campus, but one of the most meaningful," he said. "Athletes are now willing to accept the challenge of the program."
Swimmer Krista Cordsen, Rome, N.Y., junior, is one of 16 student athletes willing to meet the challenge of the program.
The program is based in biological science. Students entering the program must have a minimum GPA of 2.5 and completed 60 hours of general education requirements, including anatomy, biology, physics and chemistry.
Students in the sports science program must complete 21 hours of sports foundation core classes, including kinesiology, exercise physiology, first aid and psychology of coaching.
She said that participation in the program is just like participation in athletics. They both have physical and mental aspects to them.
Derek Nolen/KANSAN
They also must complete 39 hours of pre-physical therapy classes, including college physics I and II, abnormal psychology, principles of microbiology, adaptive physical education and care and prevention of athletic injuries.
"Exercise science is not just the physical aspects of health and the body," she said. "It also involves the mental aspect of overcoming something such as an injury."
Then there is a 16-hour internship where the student observes and works with a physical therapist, knowing how the profession actually works.
"Being an athlete, you come into contact with people with injuries and people who exercise," she said. "I like exercise science a lot because it incorporates what I do everyday in athletics."
Cordsen said the program is beneficial for athletes.
Cordsen is working on her undergraduate degree in exercise science so she can enter the physical therapy program at the University of Kansas Medical Center after she graduates.
Many of the freshman and sophomore student athletes at KU are still shopping around for a major.
Basketball player Greg Ostertag is still searching for a program. He said that he first thought about majoring in recreation.
"I wanted to major in outdoor and wildlife recreation because I love the outdoors, especially hunting and fishing," the Duncanville, Texas, sophomore said. "But they don't have that type of recreation program here."
Ostertag currently is working with his academic adviser in search of a program that interests him. He will have to officially declare a major within the next year.
The majors of seniors on this year's Final Four team include secondary education for Rex Walters, and human development and family life for Adonis Jordan and Eric Pauley.
"I still have time to find something I like," he said.
Student athletes and their academic advisers contend that
grams that are easy roads toward a degree. Athletes are not placed in courses just so they can remain eligible for athletic competition, they say.
Like all students at KU, though, the responsibility to graduate finally rests with the student athlete. And, again, they perform about like the rest of the student body.
The Student Right to Know Act, federal legislation which requires all universities to release graduation rates for all student athletes, will go into effect in July.
The first batch of graduation rates released in fall 1991 showed that of 103 athletes entering KU in the fall of 1984, 54 percent graduated by August 1989.
Fifty two percent of all KU students graduate in five years.
Buskirk said he expected new graduation rates for those freshmen student athletes who entered in the fall of 1885 to be released in April or May.
Still, Joe Reitz is encouraged with the type of student athlete the Jay-
Reitz previously has taught at Indiana University and the University of Florida, two schools with great academic and athletic reputations. However, he said that many student athletes he saw at those institutions did not have a chance to succeed academically.
His experience at those universities had turned him off when it came to cooperating with athletic department recruitment, he said.
But he said that his attitude has changed since he has been at KU.
"This is the first university where I really felt comfortable in talking with prospective student athletes, ones who have a chance to succeed academically," he said. "The Athletic Department under the leadership of Bob Frederick deserves a great amount of credit for getting these athletes the support on the academic side of things."
Name: Mindy Weiner
Major: Math & Psychology
Hometown: Morton Grove, III.
Year: Junior
Graduation Date: Fall 1994
Why chose major:"I just decided to add psychology as a double major. I had advanced placement math classes in high school, and I enjoyed the teacher I had my senior year."
Thoughts on major: "I have only one more math class to fulfill, and I will start on my psychology this fall."
Plans after graduation: "Maybe graduate school, but I want to try to play tennis on the professional level."
Thoughts on athletic stereotypes: "I had a problem with that when I was at Clemson. My teachers thought I was a stupid athlete, and they said it to my face. I made a point of telling them that I have a 3.7 GPA."
Name: Alex King
Major: Economics
Hometown: Tulsa, Okla.
Year: Junior
Graduation Date: Fall 1994
Why chose major: "I want to prepare myself for law school after graduation."
Thoughts on major: "I'm only taking my fourth economic class presently, and it's not what I thought it would be."
Plans after graduation: "I want to become involved with politics. I know both senators from Oklahoma. Maybe I can become an aide to one of them."
Thoughts on athletic stereotypes: "During my first semester here my English teacher asked me if I was a P.E. major. She was surprised when I told her that I was not, and I was surprised by her attitude."
Name: Brad Bruno
Major: HDFL
Hometown: Bartlesville, Okla.
Year: Senior
Graduation Date: Spring 1993
Why chose major: "I like working with children."
Thoughts on major:" I feel I can relate to children.Maybe I'll go into teaching or coaching."
Plans after graduation: "I want to try to play professional golf because it's always been my dream. I don't know what I would do without golf. If that doesn't pan out maybe I'll get my education degree."
Thoughts on athletic stereotypes: "I don't care what people think. I just want to get my degree."
Name: MaryBeth Labosky
Major: Exercise Science
Hometown: Tabernacle, N.J.
Year: Senior
Graduation Date: Fall 1993
Why chose major: "I enjoy learning about the human body. I am intrigued about what makes the body work."
Thoughts on major: "I think the internship should be a paid one. I like to get the practical experience, but I don't think it's fair that the internship is unpaid."
Plans after graduation: "I was looking at physical therapy, but now I'm looking at coaching or organizing a corporate fitness program."
Thoughts on athletic stereotypes: "It does bother me, but in the big picture I really don't care. The major is where my interest is. What's wrong with pursuing a career of that nature?"