Picture this. It’s Friday night and thousands of fans in a packed stadium have donned face and body paint of their school colors. Emotions are running high and the student section is louder than a riot. There’re two seconds left in the game, and you’re down by one point with your best shooter, a projected top 10 NBA draft pick, coming up to the line for two free throws. This is it-do or die, win or lose.
As your star prepares for his shot the crowd goes silent; not a sound could be heard. The ESPN commentators are looking on eager to scream out with excitement. First shot. Swish. The crowd goes wild, but just as quickly as the uproar begins, it ends just as suddenly. Second shot. It’s up, hits the back of the rim. One bounce. Two bounces. Not a heart is beating. It’s in! Within seconds the 10,000 plus fans storm the court and amidst the sea school colors tears of excitement are being shed and screams of joy can be heard.
Now what color is that face paint that you picture? Is it Tarheel Blue? Syracuse Orange? Maybe Duke Blue and White? Or perhaps it’s the Red and White of the Arizona Wildcats? Whatever the color is, chances are it’s not the Red and Green of your Washington University Bears.
Welcome to Division III sports. You won’t see thousands of fans storming the Washington University Field House any time soon. Nor will you see your starting point guard drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers. And there’s no chance in hell that you’ll see more fans at the basketball game than at your weekly Beirut tournament-that’s for sure.
Division III sports: Don’t knock it ’till you’ve tried it
Let’s face it-Division III sports teams, even your own school’s team, don’t hold a candle to your favorite NCAA sports team you go crazy for during March Madness. But that’s not to say that rooting for your Washington University Bears and attending games like you did for your high school football team should automatically be counted out because they’re Division III. Though the level of play isn’t up to par with future NBA players, and the biggest rivalry you’ll see in the Bears’ conference, the University Athletic Association (UAA) (a.k.a. “The Smart School Conference”) is probably with Emory University or Brandeis University, there are some unique features of Division III play that you won’t get anywhere else.
First, all D-III athletes must be students before athletes. No varsity athlete can have an athletic scholarship and, at least at Washington University, all athletes must first be accepted to the school through the same process and requirements that all other students go through. So what you see from our athletes proudly wearing the Red and Green is first and foremost a group of people who actually attend class, something you won’t see from the likes of top NBA draft picks. In Division III, if a player’s GPA drops below a minimum requirement, s/he is suspended from athletic activities until they can bring their GPA back, regardless of who the player is.
The ironic thing about that policy, of course, is that for the overwhelming majority of these student-athletes at WU, keeping their GPA up is never a problem. The average GPA of all the varsity athletes was significantly higher than the average GPA of the rest of the student body last year. It seems like these talented people have the Superman-esque powers to balance a year-round athletic career with the demanding rigors of Wash. U. academia.
Being a varsity athlete is no walk in the park. A typical day can involve waking up at 5 or 6 a.m. to lift weights and train for a couple of hours, followed by five hours of organic chemistry lab, grabbing a quick bite to eat before a biology exam, then heading straight to a grueling afternoon practice. After that is a break for dinner, then it’s straight to the library for a couple hours of well-managed and focused studying. Next up: bedtime.
You have to really admire what a varsity athlete goes through during the year-their social life during the season is basically reduced to nothing. Every day is an arduous battle just to get through it all, and yet, if you ask just about any athlete, not one of them would give it up for anything. Though many fans might not seem to give a hoot, every athlete here bleeds Red and Green through and through.
Bear sports: “These guys ain’t too f-ing bad!”
So here’s a group of Division III athletes who do better than most WU students in the classroom while also taking on the full responsibilities of a varsity athlete-clearly the Bears have too much going on to win games, right?
Wrong. Year after year we have teams competing for national championships and winning conference titles, and we have players pitching no-hitters and winning spots on All-American teams. Believe it or not, Washington University athletics is actually very successful across the board. When you have your volleyball team winning the National Championship what seems to be every year, or your softball team being the No. 1 ranked team in the nation before falling to the defending national champion in the Regional Finals, or when just about every other WU team wins the UAA Conference Title every year, it proves that not only are these excellent students, but gifted athletes as well.
Division III athletics may not be the most glamorous thing in the world, but they can definitely be something that will surprise you if you give them a chance. And even if you’re not that much into Bear sports, going to home games and events are a great way to get free food. Red Alert is a student group that works to attract fans to go to home games by giving them all the free Dominos pizza they can eat. Add that to the potential prizes that can be won through raffles, and you just might have a great reason to show up.
Despite its relative smallness, Wash. U. athletics can be very exciting and worthwhile, and you would be doing a disservice to both you and our Bear athletes who put so much into representing the Red and Green by missing out.