Jimmy Allin’s priorities haven’t changed. On the day of his high school graduation he chose athletics over academics, deciding to attend Queen’s primarily because of its football program. With only a few weeks left in his undergraduate career, sports continue to take precedence over school for Allin, but not because he’s a shabby student.
The star cornerback for the Queen’s football team has earned Academic All-Canadian status (a CIS athlete whose average is 80 per cent or better) thanks to his scholarly success in the life sciences program. Medical school is one possibility for Allin, but so is a spot in the Canadian Football League, particularly in light of his superb showing at the league’s recent evaluation camp. Allin said if both options are available, he plans to choose sports.
“Definitely football,” he said. “If I get a chance to play in the CFL, I’ll run with that as long as I can and then figure out what to do after that.” Allin said many varsity athletes prioritize sports during their university years.
“In of other athletes I know at this school, for the most part everybody’s extremely competitive,” he said. “A lot put athletics before academics as well.”
Allin is far from the only CIS student-athlete to put a higher focus on sports than school. In January, Ryerson’s star men’s volleyball player Oleh Kovalchuk was kicked off the team for academic reasons. He told the Ryersonian that he only went to university to play sports.
“I really just wanted to play volleyball,” he said. “Without a real professional league in Canada, it just seemed logical for me to play at Ryerson.”
The concept of student athletes prioritizing athletics over academics has long been regarded as an attitude associated with American intercollegiate sports. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, the governing body for intercollegiate sports in the United States, states that its purpose is to “govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education.” Athletic competition is the priority.
Conversely, the equivalent organization in Canada, the CIS, states that its aim is to “enrich the educational experience of the athlete through a national sport program that fosters excellence.” The mandates themselves suggest a difference in the organizations’ priorities.
But that difference may become less pronounced, as money is widely regarded as one of the reasons the NCAA is able to prioritize sports. The association’s member schools are able to offer student athletes hefty scholarships strictly to compete. The CIS, though nowhere near the NCAA financially, also appears to be moving in that direction as Canadian student athletes are now eligible to receive entrance athletic financial awards. Some have wondered if the existence of athletic scholarships will encourage athletes to focus primarily on sports.
Women’s volleyball outside hitter Colleen Ogilvie said Queen’s does a good job of keeping athletes focused on their schoolwork, though.
“I’ve found Queen’s has been very good about making sure academics is a priority even for athletes and I think that is one of the reason why Queen’s has such a good reputation overall,” she said. “It’s been nice to go to a school where I can pursue a degree in engineering and get the academic while still being able to play at the varsity level.”
Brie Shaw, this year’s women’s soccer OUA East Rookie of the Year, said academics are still crucial for her. She’s adamant that school and sports are of equal importance to her, regardless of the money involved.
“It’s always been both, it has to be both,” she said.
Shaw, also an engineering student, considered attending university in the U.S. but opted to remain in Canada to simultaneously pursue academic and athletic goals. “In the States some people just go to play sports, but there’s no point in paying a lot of money to go play sports for four years,” she said. “I wanted to get both, and my priority is still both.” Ultimately, Shaw picked Queen’s because of the combination of the academic reputation, the soccer team’s success and the school spirit. She said attempting to place equal importance on both academics and sports can be challenging, but it’s worth it in the end.
“You always have to make sacrifices for one or the other,” she said. “A lot of time it ends up being school. But I’m not going to quit soccer. That’s just not an option.”
Quitting soccer was not an option Laura Barker would have previously considered either. The 2005 women’s soccer OUA East Rookie of the Year had athletic scholarship offers to Canadian and American schools, but opted for Queen’s. She played only one season with the Gaels before permanently injuring her knee. Barker attributes her rationale for attending Queen’s as similar to the majority of undergraduate students, but its the athletics component bolstered her decision.
“Primarily I came to Queen’s for the same reason that everyone else does. The campus was beautiful, the academics are reputable,” she said. “It also helped that I got recruited, that helped, because it showed you all the benefits of being part of the team.”
After her injury, Barker was forced to consider student life without sports.
“I obviously knew that there was a lot more to the school then just soccer,” she said.
The fourth-year engineering student its that while academics are important, they aren’t necessarily her top priority even now that she isn’t involved in varsity sports.
“I like school, but if school is my focus, I’d probably resent it more,” she said. “Over my time at Queen’s, at certain times my priority has been academics, and at certain times it’s been athletics, and at certain times it’s been neither. It’s been social.”
Barker said she’s happy with the decisions she’s made during her time at Queen’s.
“Some people go to the States, playing for D2, bottom of the barrel teams that could not compete with Canadian teams,” she said. “In that case, it may not be about academics or athletics, it can be about prestige. I don’t regret my decisions.”
—With files from Andrew Bucholtz
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