Attending UW-Whitewater is much more than just sports for it's student athletes

I was waiting for my car to be serviced Tuesday morning at Ketterhagen Ford-Mercury in Whitewater. I noticed the latest edition of Whitewater Magazine in the waiting area. The feature story in the UW-Whitewater magazine is titled Student Athletes Excel.

Among the student-athletes featured is Jordan Stine. The senior from Merrill is one the main cogs on John Vodenlich's Warhawk baseball team. Stine is back this season after missing all of the 2009 baseball season due to injury.

In the article, Stine talks about learning the "lessons of life" while at school in Whitewater. Stine cut short his winter semester break to coach youth baseball camps on campus to help raise money for Warhawk baseball's spring break trip to Forida in March.

An excellent student, Stine is seeking a sociology degree with a minor in criminal justice.

While some refer to college athletes as "dumb jocks" the truth is anything but. Approximately 700 student-athletes attend UW-Whitewater each year competing in 20 sports. In the article UW-W Athletic Director Paul Plinske explains that men athletes on campus have a solid 2.89 grade point average. The women athletes an even better 3.19 GPA average.

According to Plinske "UW-Whitewater student athletes truly earn what they recieve."

Paricipating in a sport puts an incredible strain on time management. An athletes day is long, from early morning workouts, through classes, team meetings, hours of homework, and trips for games both home and away.

To be successful it is all about time management.

Coach John Vodenlich remembers back when he was attending UW-Whitewater. Vodenlich's mentor and former coach Jim Miller required his student athletes to attend every class, sit up front and be respectful. Vodenlich understands that Mill's rules were a huge lesson in life. The highly successful baseball coach continues to echo the messages of Miller who has the newly renovated UWW baseball stadium in his name.

Back to Stine who says college would have been a totally different experience without baseball.

"It's fun, and I'm thankful that I've been part of UW-Whitewater baseball and the UW-Whitewater athletic tradition," Stine said. "I'm going to miss it. I thing it's bettered me in the long run."

(The preceeding story included excerpts from the Whitewater Magazine article entitled: Student Athletes Excel, written by Anita Clark. The adjacent photo featuring Jordan Stine (left), Ingrid Stensvaag (center), Alyse Karls (right) is courtesy of Gregg Theune)