Zach McCaskill and Jordan Muncy-Taton are two of the many young people who are student athletes at Oklahoma Panhandle State University. They were honored in May as the OPSU Male and Female Student Athletes of the year – an honor based on leadership, citizenship, academic excellence and athletic performance. Muncy-Taton has started this year with a bang with two individual national rodeo championships and McCaskill will be one of the leaders of the Aggie football team this fall. — Hector Cobos photo
By Scott Puryear
Goodwell, Okla. — The 2010-2011 school year will soon be underway and many of the young people who will be attending Oklahoma Panhandle State University will also be participating with any one of the fourteen teams involved in intercollegiate athletic competition. OPSU is very proud of their student athletes and the school fields teams in:
Rodeo (men and women); Basketball (men and women); Cross Country (men and women); Golf (men and women); Football; Volleyball; Softball; Baseball; Equestrian (men and women); Cheerleading (men and women).
With the top five finishes from both the men’s and women’s rodeo teams at the national finals last week, the promise of what could be the best football and volleyball teams in years, and some very strong recruiting in the rest of the sports that will carry through the winter and into the spring — it is shaping up to be a big year in sports at OPSU.
In order to succeed as a college student athlete, it takes dedication, perseverance, and a strong work ethic — three things that must be applied in both athletic endeavors as well as in the classroom.
Each year thousands of young people enter colleges and universities in this country, many intent upon being successful in athletic programs. Some may gain that success in the short term without tending to business in the classroom — but that is a short road because if academic requirements are not met, that person will not be allowed to compete in athletic programs.
In addition, and very importantly, there are also “codes of conduct” that all student athletes are expected to adhere to.
All young people in today’s world are faced with challenges, and given the pressures of both sports competition and academic requirements in college, student athletes face extra challenges much of the time. In order to be successful in both sports and “with the books,” they must work hard to meet those challenges.
The real success of a college student athlete may not be fully measured until the day they earn their degree — then, coupled with their hard work and dedication in their athletic endeavors (individually, as well as a team member) — they have something to brag about. And as the great baseball player Dizzy Dean once said, “It ain’t braggin’ if it’s the truth.”
Competing in college athletics for four years is something to be proud of and earning a college degree is something to be even more proud of. Doing both is definitely worth bragging about, and accomplishments a young person can carry for the rest of their life.
