Student athletes at Weber State University experience both enjoyment and stress. Many of these student athletes balance a full-time academic schedule while focusing on their game.
For full time student and golf team member, Nyomy Obcemea, school is a joy that comes with its dose of academic pressure and stress.
“I absolutely love that I am an athlete at the university,” Obcemea said, “but you miss a lot of what’s going on, and you’re expected to come back from tournaments and know what is happening.”
A typical tournament day for a member of the golf team involves playing at least 18 holes of golf, finishing up the tournament and flying directly home, arriving around midnight or 1 am. Student athletes are then expected to be in class that morning.
“Professors expect you to perform like everyone else in their class, and it can be harsh when they don’t help you out,” Obcemea said. In her five years as a student at WSU, Obcemea has only had two professors she felt gave her “trouble” for all of her academically excused absences.
Professor Hailey Gillen says she has absolutely no problem working with student athletes, as long as they are excused absences and try their best to keep up.
According to WSU policy, student athletes have to maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 to be eligible to play.
For some athletes, scholarships are provided to help out with their schooling. However, for many athletes there is no scholarship attached to their performance at WSU.
Along with the pressure to maintain good grades, student athletes are also subject to class checks.
“I was checked my very first day of class at Weber,” Justin Holliday said, a football athlete for WSU.
Holliday has played football for the university for two years and isn’t on scholarship.
“Not everyone gets a cushy full-time scholarship to play,” Holliday said. “A lot less than you think actually do.”
While not every university athlete gets a scholarship, it makes the world of difference for those that do.
Obcemea looks back at her high school days and classifies herself as the “athletic girl” as she played golf for her high school team for two years.
After winning a game of golf against her best friend, the No. 1 ranked female player in golf for the state of Utah at the time, Obcemea received a call from Weber.
“They offered me a full scholarship tuition and to walk onto the team. I signed it right then,” Obcemea said. “I fell like this was God’s way of giving me an education.”
Thanks to her full-time scholarship, Obcemea is about to graduate with a double major in technical sales and PR and advertising.
“Though it’s been hard to balance my schedule between playing golf and my classes, I am 100-percent thankful for it because it allowed me to get a college degree,” she said.
