Athletics and Academics: Friends or Foes?

Written by Soha Mohammadhanif

Academics and athletics are often imagined as entirely separate fields, but when looking through a student-athlete’s lens, they can be seen as two sides of the same coin. For this article, we had a conversation with Jonah Crowther to better understand the relationship between these two concepts. Against popular opinion that athletes don’t require a good academic standing, this article lists down a few reasons why academic success is important to athletes.

Jonah is a fourth-year Sobey School of Business student who plays basketball for the SMU Huskies as their forward. He has been playing basketball ever since he can remember. With only a few weeks until his graduation in May, he looks back at his journey at SMU and feels grateful to have had this opportunity to play the sport he loved while pursuing his academics.

Athletics in the Schooling Curriculum

In provinces like Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, students are required to participate in weekly physical education in elementary and middle schools. In Manitoba, Nunavut, Alberta, and Ontario, the provincial government has implemented daily physical education of 20-30 mins per day. In Nova Scotia, physical education is a credit-based course under personal development required to graduate high school. Nova Scotia also requires students to complete their PE credits in order to graduate high school, proving that a Nova Scotian student’s scholastic life is intertwined with athletics until they reach university.

Why Participate in Athletics at University?

University admissions are challenging for many students, especially if academia is not their strongest pursuit. In situations like these, if a student is a capable enough athlete, an athletic scholarship from a university makes sure that their skills are polished while also enabling them to keep their options open through a university degree. To pursue academics for some students athletics can become a roadway to post-secondary education.

Most high school graduates who are interested in pursuing a sport professionally prefer getting their undergraduate degrees and keeping it in their back pockets. According to Jonah “Most players in the US use college as a road to get into the NBA (National Basketball Association), these are people who are so talented they already know what they are going to do, so they use the first year of college to get into professional basketball, but in Canada it is a lot less likely that you’ll be drafted in the NBA, so some skilled players will play college basketball for 2-3 years first before playing in professional leagues. These students have that degree as a backup plan in case they get hurt or their athletic career fails.”

In his quote Jonah talks about another hurdle that athletes face in their professional career,the risk of getting injured, especially for high injury risk games like basketball and football. Research has proven that approximately 14%-32% of athletes are forced to leave their careers because of serious, career-ending injuries. “Basketball players also only play professionally for about 5 years before they cannot play anymore due to injuries. 5 years is a very short duration for a longer life.” Having to start from level zero after facing such physical and mental trauma is difficult as is, and during this time starting back up can be easier if athletes have a university degree to fall back on. During the recovery period, a degree enables athletes to find alternate employment opportunities outside of their sport. While they don’t need degrees to play professionally, these reasons are factors athletes consider when going to university.

Once they get into a university, their athletic and academic lives automatically become intertwined. Whether or not a player wants to move forward with pursuing their sport professionally, as long as they want to remain a part of the team, they need to abide by certain academic criteria. This criteria is different for every university. At SMU, according to the Saint Mary’s University Student-Athlete Handbook, you must maintain a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of at least 65% to keep your Athletic Financial Award and be enrolled in at least 3 courses (9 credit hours) in both the Fall and Winter semesters to participate in any and all team activities. U Sports is the national sport governing body for universities in Canada, to be eligible to play in U Sports, athletes must attain and maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.75/4.0 or 80% in their courses. Athletes are encouraged by their coaches to put their studies first, as they too are aware of the importance of good academic standing. This proves that there is no existence of athletics without academics and that athletics and academics are truly two sides of the same coin.

The answer to the question of whether athletics and academics are foes or friends is clear. They have to be friends. Especially in the world of a student, they both play a huge role in encouraging talent and as a security of subsistence. Athletics becomes a means for students to pursue academics and at the same time that academic degree acts as a shield, protecting athletes from the harms that can’t be anticipated. They work together to build and refine skills in student-athletes.

Jacob ButlerApril 8, 2025