Focusing On The Right Thing

The young lady covering the puck made a big impact on her team's success at the 2019 Female World Sport School Challenge. While Haileigh Craig, a University of Alberta-committed player, scored the overtime winner to capture the gold medal at the tournament, Bella McKee was undoubtedly one of the best players at the tournament as she backstopped the PMW Lloydminster Steelers to the ultimate goal. McKee is headed to Union College in Schenectady, New York this fall, and she'll be one of the Dutchwomen working to win an NCAA championship. Where she might make a bigger impact for a longer period time, it seems, is in the classroom as she has already chosen her field of study.

"Academically, I want to make sure I reach my goal of finishing with a degree in neuroscience, so I can transfer back to Canada and take an after-grad in Education," McKee told Jamie Harkins of MeridianSource about her plans for college. Yes, you read that correctly - neuroscience! WOW!

McKee's goal is rather awesome when one considers that most freshmen don't have to choose a major at this point. She hasn't even moved to New York yet, and she's talking about graduating and coming back to Canada to pursue a post-graduate degree in Education, so you know that Bella is likely committed to her work in the classroom as much as she is to her work on the ice.

When we talk about student-athletes, especially in the NCAA, there's a belief that some students take easier courses to maintain their academic eligibility in order to play Division-1 sports. While I don't want to stereotype anyone, this seems to happen most often in NCAA D1 football so that teams can continue to win versus seeing their students win in the classroom. I'm not here to name names or point fingers, but the term "student-athlete" is legitimately the order of importance for these young men and women coming to school. In saying this, students need to do their parts in demanding more from their schools and coaches if there are "recommended courses" one should take.

I used Bella McKee as an example because neuroscience is legitimately a tough subject for anyone to tackle. The NCAA academic eligibility requirements that students must adhere to in order to remain athletically-eligible are:

1. By the START of sophomore year, you must:

• have a cumulative GPA of 1.8
• have completed 36 units

2. By the END of sophomore year, you must:

• declare a major

3. By the START of junior year, you must:

• have a cumulative GPA of 1.9
• have completed 72 units (40 percent of your total degree requirements)

4. By the START of senior year, you must:

• have a cumulative GPA of 2.0
• have completed 108 units (60 percent of your degree requirements)

5. By the START of a fifth year, you must:

• have a cumulative GPA of 2.0
• have completed 144 units (80 percent of your degree requirements)

Clearly, the NCAA expects a student to not only focus on their studies, but actually improve on their classroom performance - albeit marginal improvements - by the time the student is a senior. The requirements for completion of the degree makes it so the student can't forego classes that would be required for a degree while playing sports, and that's an important requirement as well. It means students have to go to class, perform well, and work hard off the ice, field, court, or whatever surface on which the student plays.

For U SPORTS athletes, the eligibility rules are a lot more straightforward as U SPORTS takes the "student" part of student-athlete very seriously. To remain academically-eligible in U SPORTS, students must adhere to the following as per U SPORTS' Eligibility rule 40.10.3.3:

A student-athlete who successfully complete a minimum of three full courses, or six half courses, or eighteen semester hours during the academic year at a degree granting institution, is for the purpose of this rule, a student in good standing for that academic year, unless there are circumstances within their academic program which would warrant an exception to this ruling and in which the university continues to declare this individual a full-time student.

That paragraph establishes the minimum requirement for students to be academically-eligible for U SPORTS participation. The "good-standing" portion means the student has passed the courses chosen without any objection from the school. There are still all sorts of clauses and exceptions and additional rules regarding eligibility in U SPORTS depending on different sports and situations, but the above rule is hard and fast regarding what is expected of students in Canadian universities.

With both the NCAA and U SPORTS putting a price on academics in order to play sports, students are expected to work as hard, if not harder, in the classroom than out of it. With Bella McKee choosing neuroscience as her field of study, she's already aiming high for her academic goals, and it's encouraging to see her not only chase her dreams on the ice, but off it as well. If she's as good as she is on the ice, the medical science of the brain will see major advances and discoveries thanks to Bella's work.

Here's hoping Bella McKee wins an NCAA championship on the ice while advancing brain science off it. I know she's talented enough to do both, and I look forward to seeing her kick butt in the classroom and in the blue paint!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!