With the multitude of college preparatory classes offered on campus and a huge selection of sports students can participate in, both academics and athletics are major elements of the lives of students at Cathedral Catholic.
According to AP Calculus AB and BC teacher Mrs. Debbie Bricker, the correlation between academics and sports is evident large number of athletes in her AP Calculus class, especially those from the varsity basketball team.
Varsity basketball team member senior Nick Prunty only reinforced the aforementioned when he said, “Many of the characteristics needed to play sports and be successful in the classroom overlap. Both situations require hard work, dedication, and time. I think that this year’s senior class is a special blend of athletic talent and academic potential. For example, our basketball team has several students with a 4.0 or above GPA, and every year the majority of our players are recognized as members of the All-Academic Team in the Union Tribune. Thus, the senior class has proven that they are willing to dedicate themselves both athletically and academically. I think that this is the reason why Mrs. Bricker’s AP Calculus class, one of the toughest classes at the school, is filled with basketball players and other athletes.”
Nick explained how exactly academics, specifically math, and sports overlap. “I believe that math is involved in sports, especially basketball, in many different ways, like the spin off of the backboard, the angle of a shot, or the way defense is played, but it is not something that I have ever thought about on the court. It is just something that I have learned by practicing over and over again,” he said.
Nick’s teammate and fellow Senior JJ Sellner agrees. He said, “It is not like we are using calculus on the court, but when you are on the court you have to be thinking critically the entire time; just as calculus requires a lot of critical thinking. Although players of other sports also need to be able to think critically every time they play, in basketball specifically, it is necessary to have quick thinkers because every play in every game is different. You have to see what the other team does, analyze it, and react very quickly. There is a lot of thought that goes into where you need to be and what you need to be doing on the court, so if we did not think out there, we would not be so good.”
Mrs. Bricker also agrees that having discipline in the classroom is necessary to enhance one’s ability to be a very good athlete. “Any athletic position requires some intelligence, but the ability to play in a skilled position needs even more brain cells. Even though I do not attribute any one subject to athletic supremacy, all disciplines contribute to a well balanced performer,” she said.
Thus with more than six members of the varsity boys basketball team in her class alone, it may not come as a surprise to some when Mrs. Bricker expressed her awe over the aforementioned as she exclaimed, “They are all in Calculus…amazing!”
