A Tribute to the Student-Athletes of NCAA Division 3 Schools by Al Duthie True sports fans, including those who enjoy watching major colleges and pro sports teams play, need to make some time to watch Division-3 college teams compete. Which sport selected, whether team or individual sport, makes no difference. It is the athlete to pay attention to during competition. The female or male athlete is putting in the practice time and effort year round, not for the accolades, or possible glory, or to play professionally, but for the passion of the sport and bonding with teammates. The enjoyment they receive is the sport and being part of a team. And usually their primary (top priority) focus remains on the academics. Now, I’m not attempting to offend all Division-1 athletes here. I’m simply trying to make a point about the often overlooked Division-3 athlete. How- ever, it is fairly obvious there are athletes at the D-1 level that are in college to merely play their sport and not to study toward a professional career. Any high school athlete who thinks by virtue of playing a sport in high school automatically means it’s not a prob- lem to play in college for a D-3 program is sadly mistaken. It’s a lot of work, that is, time and effort. And there are a lot of really good athletes playing D-3, most all former All-Conference or All-State caliber athletes. So to make the roster, the student-athlete must maintain discipline in terms of weight training, proper diet, and practicing skills at the particular sport year round. So why are there so many good D-3 athletes? I’m sure there are more, but I can think of 5 reasons, namely, lack of size, academics are the primary interest of the athlete, the athlete was a “late developer” in high school, D-1 schools overlooked the athlete, and simply lack of enough talent for D-2 and D-1 programs. I do contend, however, that there are quite a few D-3 athletes that have D-1 ability if they had been given the opportunity. I am impressed by the toughness and motivation for success that I have witnessed from D-3 football players, D-3 women soccer players, and D-3 men’s basketball players. I know several of these student-athletes that have had not one major knee injury, but two or three, and they still do the necessary rehab and have come back to play at a high level. It would have been so easy to quit, especially since they are not motivated by retaining an athletic scholar- ship of any kind. I am impressed by the all-around person these athletes are as well. They have their priorities straight in regard to faith, family, and academics over the sport. And they seem to be able to transfer lessons from the sports arena to real world life lessons so that they will be well-equipped to meet the challenges of life once they graduate. There are approximately 250 Division 3 colleges participating in the NCAA with sports programs. Respect should be given to those student-athletes who are part of those sports programs. If a decent high school athlete has the desire to work hard enough to play at the college level it is possible, not a given, but possible. I’d like to end with a quote from an overachiever, who I know real well, who says, “working hard overcomes lack of talent”.
2014 Wellness Testing
In early November Crest Foods held their big 4 day wellness testing program with the assistance of staff from KSB Hospital in Dixon. In all we tested over 400 employees plus an additional number of spouses for glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure. This was a big undertaking but we have seen the payoff over the years. Unidentified health issues have been discovered during testing. The employees then consult with our nurse who helps guide them through a plan of treatment that includes seeing their physician. Thank you to all who participated!
Daniel Estrella
24 Crest Ink January, February & March 2015
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker