Balancing their transition into college-level coursework and athletics with disruptions and uncertainty caused by COVID-19, student-athletes in the class of 2024 have a lot on their plates. The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) decided in July that golf, tennis and swim and dive would compete in the fall – with GLVC championships postponed to the spring semester due to COVID-19 concerns. The sports of football, soccer and volleyball will have their competition season moved to the spring.

The Hilltop Monitor connected with first-year members of William Jewell College’s cross-country, football and swim teams – who are all competing in the fall season – to ask how they’re handling their transition into college athletics.

Marissa Doria, first-year nursing major, is a member of the cross-country team. Sharing a little bit about her daily routine, Doria said that, depending on which day of the week it is, she will wake up around 6 a.m. to join her team for strengthening workouts. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Doria has classes from 9 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. and then heads straight to physical therapy – which is scheduled for 3 p.m. – after her last class. After physical therapy, Doria heads to work from 4-5 p.m. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Doria spends most of the day in class and work and makes sure to get homework done in the spare moments when she finds free time.

“Since practices are in the morning and physical therapy is right after my last class, I think I have been able to balance between that and classes along with my work schedule,” Doria said.

Doria spent the first two weeks of school in a boot for an injury she was recovering from, which made the beginning stages of her transition into college athletics a little bit rockier.

“[O]nce I was able to take off the boot, it was a little easier to get a routine down and became manageable. For me the most difficult thing to adjust to is not really knowing anyone because I am from out of state and I’m still not that used to having my close friends only 10 minutes away from me,” Doria said.

Reflecting on her high school athletic career, Doria shared that she finds that her team at Jewell is generally more dedicated and that the trainers are more committed to making sure their athletes are healthy.

“I think that being a student-athlete at Jewell is a little better than in high school because the athletes on the team take the sport and workouts a lot more serious[ly]. The athletic trainers are also able to treat the athletes a lot better for their injuries,” Doria said. “My coach also checks up on me and my wellbeing a lot more than my high school coach did, which I appreciate. In addition to the athletes and staff, there are a lot more responsibilities as a student-athlete at Jewell in the way that I have to balance between classes, practices, homework/studying, and working to pay for tuition.”

Josh Polk, first-year history and secondary education major, is a defensive back on Jewell’s football team. Similar to Doria, Polk wakes up at 6 a.m. most days to work out with his team until 7:30 a.m. Afterward, he’ll head to the dining hall for breakfast before heading back to his dorm room to drink a protein shake and shower. His first class begins at 9 a.m. on Zoom. When that finishes, he often takes a quick nap before his next class at 11:15 a.m. After a quick lunch at 12:30 p.m., Polk will get a little homework in before his next class at 1:45 p.m. 

Once this class finishes, Polk heads to his 3 p.m. football meeting. Then, Polk grabs dinner before embarking on a quick evening workout. After a shower, Polk heads to his job in the Mabee Center and will use his downtime to work on homework. After finishing up his shift at 11 p.m., Polk finally heads to bed.

“I would say I’m mostly adjusted to life as a student athlete by now. It’s definitely manageable but you have to stay focused or you will get behind,” Polk said. “It is very tiring and the most difficult thing to do is to get quality rest, my days are long and active and I don’t get much time just to myself. Thankfully the football team makes me attend a study hall two days a week and that helps me keep track of everything.”

In his adjustment to collegiate athletics, Polk has noticed that he feels more pressure to be responsible.

“It’s way different [from high school] because I’m way more accountable for everything I do and no action goes without a consequence. There’s a lot more pressure on me to be perfect in everything I do so it can be stressful but you just have to embrace the grind and push through,” Polk said. 

Haley Angelo, first-year psychological sciences major, is a backstroke and freestyle specialist for Jewell’s swim team. The earliest riser of the bunch, Angelo wakes up at 5 a.m. for practice at the Mabee Center. Afterward, she heads to the dining hall for breakfast before classes begin. Throughout the day, Angelo will find a couple of hours to get homework done before heading to afternoon practice. On weekdays, she notes that she is always either at swim practice, eating at the cafeteria, or getting homework done in the Pryor Learning Commons.

“It has definitely taken a couple of weeks to get into the swing of things, but it has been awesome. It is all about time management for me, setting aside time for priorities,” Angelo said.

Angelo enthused about her athletic experience at Jewell, emphasizing that the closeness and openness of her team have made the transition much easier.

“Being a student-athlete at Jewell is completely different from being a student-athlete in high school. The atmosphere here at Jewell is very welcoming. My team is so close and has been very welcoming to the freshman, and helping us adjust to this new environment,” Angelo said. “The swim team has been a great group to be [a part] of, and I am excited [to] see where the year goes.”

SID (Sports Information Director) Appreciation Week was celebrated from November 6 to November 12 this year. Every college has a special individual who handles every sports’ information, as well as stream broadcasts and complete the statistics for the teams. Here at William Jewell College, our Sports Information Director is JaeLynn Ellison. The Monitor sat down with Ellison to understand exactly what an SID does, as well as what led her to Jewell. 

To start, Ellison was once a college athlete herself, which is why she feels so attached to the athletes here. “I played softball and I started at Labette Community College… and then I transferred to Drury, which is where I finished.” When asked if she always wanted to work in sports, she replied, “Yes! I was on my first basketball team when I was 3… My parents were coaches and I’m a 4th generation college athlete… My baby sister actually went to one of my t-ball games before she ever went home from the hospital.” Ellison, from a young age, always knew she wanted to work in sports; Ellison was sure she didn’t want to put on nice clothes and sit in a business office every day. 

As a member of CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America), Ellison found William Jewell College on their website for a part-time position in the summer of 2015, where she was previously the SID for Labette Community College for a year. After learning the different programs of a Division II College SID, Ellison took the job. She reflected back on her decision to leave, stating “I can’t believe I did it because I’m not the type to go places I don’t know.” 

As mentioned earlier, Ellison’s favorite part about being William Jewell’s SID is the athletes. “Definitely the athletes. I like getting to know them [and] interact with them. When people come by my office to say, “Hello,” that’s the best part of my day.” 

What does it take to be a Sports Information Director? Well, Ellison has earned an Associate Degree in Communication at Labette Community College, an undergraduate degree in Multimedia Production and Journalism from Drury University, and is currently pursuing her masters in Sports and Recreation with an emphasis in Intercollegiate Athletic Administration from Western Kentucky. On top of earning her masters, Ellison works many hours a week, as well as a few other tasks athletes and coaches might not know about. Most might recognize Ellison as the broadcast or stats lady at sports events, but her job far exceeds those.

“I… do game contracts, so all of our non-conference competitions have a contract attached to them, so people have to come otherwise they pay a forfeiture, and I’m the person that drafts those contracts and makes sure they get signed by everyone… I had to make a list of all of my job requirements 3 years ago and it was, like, 3 pages long.” Ellison also mentioned she does a lot of archiving and research for Jewell Athletics. “A bulk of my summers and time off is spent doing research trying to find old statistics, old information, old photos… I’ve worked on building record books for the last 4 years.” 

With most of her time dedicated to Jewell Athletics, Ellison doesn’t get much free time, so enjoys the simple things in life. “There’s not a lot of time outside of my job. I work anywhere from 60-80 hours a week, depending on the season… but I like to watch the Saint Louis Cardinals every day, and then I have a cat who I like, but he’s kind of a turd. I don’t do a whole lot honestly.” 

It’s pretty clear that JaeLynn Ellison works extremely hard for William Jewell Athletics, so we are extremely grateful for all she does! 

“If I’m hurt, I don’t play,” James said Friday night after the Lakers’ 95-80 win against the Miami Heat at the Staples Center.  If not, I’m playing,” 

So by approaching load management from this perspective, it’s easy to critique Leonard as a softie of sorts, but a lot of people don’t know how long this guy has been battling an injury. He plays an average of 60 games a season and took 22 off last year during his championship run with the Raptors. 

But an important perspective that people should see this from is a championship mentality. I guarantee that during the time in which Leonard was trying to find a new team, the Lakers were probably offering him more than most teams in terms of money. The reason why he is on the Clippers right now is because he knew that they’d be okay with him going through load management, especially if they were to get Paul George. 

Kawhi Leonard has blown up into this super weird meme status differently than any other professional sports celebrity in recent memory. Every video of him online is him doing something unintentionally funny because he’s just kind of an awkward guy. The Lakers would’ve put the spotlight on Leonard, Lebron and Anthony Davis, and he would’ve been pressured to be that meme guy all the time and be forced to play more games than he wants. 

He’s not about being a half movie star, half NBA star like James is. Leonard is just about playing ball, and he wants to do it his way. The Clippers have allowed him to do that, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It kind of amazes me the amount of hate that Leonard has gotten just for taking some games off right after he did the same thing the year he won finals MVP. 

I always hear people say that “If an NFL player took a game off there’s no way that would fly, but they’re different leagues. You can’t compare the two. There are 16 games in an NFL schedule. You play once a week. And in certain circumstances you’ll play twice a week, and then all teams are given a bye week. There are 82 games in an NBA season, and teams play at least three times a week, traveling almost all the time. It’s just not the same. Football is also a game about repeated six-second bursts. You have to keep playing when it comes to basketball. So really, the only group of people that have any sort of right to be upset about load management is the fans that pay for tickets for a chance to see Kawhi Leonard – a chance. The Los Angeles Times echoes this well in their column. 

“The one group that has reason to be upset is Clippers or Leonard fans outside of L.A. who travel to L.A. or another city to see a game,” the newspaper said. “That might be their only chance to see Leonard play in person. But anyone who buys a ticket to see Leonard should know that he has never played more than 74 games in a season and has played an average of about 60 games per season.”

Ultimately, load management is important, including for college athletes here at Jewell and across the globe.

“For student-athletes, weeks during the season in which they will be facing competitive demands, such as exams, due dates for papers and projects, or extensive travel by car, bus or plane, would be the perfect opportunity to scale back one or more of the aforementioned parameters. Load management might be a term that’s taken on some negative connotations, but the truth is it’s hugely important for any athlete looking to consistently compete at a high level and stay injury-free,” according to one source.