The Grizzlies were among 21 teams from two-year schools across the nation to receive the 2016-17 AVCA Team Academic Award for posting a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.30 or higher on a 4.0 scale for all players. The Grizzlies’ 3.82 average was high enough to earn the team Honor Roll distinction from AVCA officials.

“I am exceptionally proud of these girls and love the fact their hard work in the classroom gets recognized,” Grizzly Volleyball Head Coach Paula Wiedemann said. “This is the culmination of a lot of effort put in by these players and everyone who supports them as student-athletes. Their dedication to being good students is a testament to the work they put into everything they do, and I could not be happier for them. They were a great example of good habits leading to good results.”

Six of the team’s 14 members recorded 4.0 GPAs for the 2016-17 academic year. They were Autumn Reese, Ozark; Blanca Izquierdo-Paton, Madrid, Spain; Stephanie Phillips, Brisbane, Australia; Elliotte Bourne, Rolla; Muara Kroon, Utrecht, Holland; and Johonna Walkup, Mountain View. Three players – Maja Petronijevic, Belgrade, Serbia; Kinli Simmons, Milo; and Kaitlyn Raith, Mountain View – each posted GPAs between 3.9 and 3.99 for the year.

“As a team, they set the highest team GPA we have ever had,” Wiedemann said. “This group did an amazing job in the classroom. We had players who put in the time to improve their habits as students, and it has paid off in many ways.”

Wiedemann also credited the team’s academic coordinator, Tori Bates, and the staff in the Advisement and Academic Coaching Center for Empowering Student Success (AACCESS) and with the PAWS (Promoting Academic Success With Student-Athletes) Program for helping the players develop the skills to succeed academically.

The AVCA Team Academic Award was established during the 1992-93 academic year and honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that display excellence in the classroom during the academic year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team GPA on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale, according to an AVCA press release. The award, celebrating its 25 year, is the single largest awards offered by quantity of schools, players and coaches awarded. Since 1993, the number of award winners has increased from 62 to this year’s 822 honorees. Over 1,000 different schools have earned the award in the program’s 25-year history, with 8,461 total awards handed out.

In order for a school to receive “honor roll” status, its division had to reach a minimum number of nominations. For NCAA Division I, II, III and girls high school, their nomination numbers allow for a top 25 honor roll; for NAIA women, a top 10; and for two-year college, collegiate men, collegiate beach and high school boys, a top five.

Original article: http://www.ozarkradionews.com/local-news/grizzly-volleyball-team-receives-academic-recognition-from-avca 

The pair are a long way from home.

Home, is Serbia, nestled in the heart of Europe, over 5,000 miles away from their new home in Grand Forks.

“I'll be honest. I went and looked at the Junior College All-American List and just started contacting as many as I could,” UND Head Coach Mark Pryor said. “Those two didn't even know each other."

It's true. Though they are both Serbian, their path to Grand Forks was different.

In Serbia college volleyball doesn't exist. So if the two wanted to keep playing without having to turn pro, heading to the United States was the best option.

Both went to junior college before coming to UND. Merseli came from a small school in Southern Iowa.

"I got recruited by Indian Hills CC, that was my first two years and everything after that was kind of just going by,” Merseli said. “So I ended up talking to Mark. Mark recruited me to come here. So I decided to come here."

Tepavac, who goes by Teo because she says it’s easier to say, is from an even smaller school in Northern Wyoming.

“I went there for two years. In my sophomore year after season I wanted to find a university that I could continue my degree and keep playing volleyball and that's how I ended up coming to North Dakota," Tepavac said.

Neither of the two had been to the United States before coming over to play college volleyball.

Despite not knowing many people when they got to UND's campus, the pair quickly became friends.

"When she came, we became roommates and now we are still living together," Tepavac said.

“It's really amazing that you can talk to somebody that's kind of same culture and same experience as you and you can share your feelings with it," Merseli said.

The two speak Serbian when they are alone with each other but they prefer to speak in English around their teammates as a courtesy.

Both Merseli and Tepavac don't get back home to Serbia very often. They usually take some time during the summer to endure the 17 hour flight.

“That is definitely a great thing having Tamara with me just because I never like to fly alone," Tepavac said.

Merseli's family only gets a chance to watch her play volleyball thanks to internet web streams.

Both have excelled at volleyball, and both are on track to graduate this year with a bachelors degree.

"They've got a chance to get the experience but then they're going to be set up for the rest of their lives a little better and if we can do that as a coaching staff that's important to me," Pryor said.

UND is coming off a big sky conference championship and their first ever NCAA Division I tournament appearance.

The Fighting Hawks begin play for the 2017 season on August 25th. 

Original article posted here - http://www.valleynewslive.com/content/sports/From-Serbia-to-Grand-Forks-UND-Seniors-finding-way-5000-miles-away-from-home-435728393.html. 

"I am enthusiastic and thrilled with Bojana's inclusion in our team," Joffe said. "Her passion for tennis, her drive and her toughness, along with her uncanny ability to compete and win, will add another piece to a young and increasingly formidable Texas team. I'm very appreciative to Bojana's parents, Nebojsa and Gordana, as well as her brother Nemanja, for trusting The University of Texas with Bojana's goals and well-being."

Markovic joins Marta Perez-Mur of Spain as Longhorns newcomers for the 2017-18 season. This fall, Markovic and Perez join seven student-athletes returning from the 2016-17 squad that reached the second round of the NCAA Championships and ranked 22nd in the final ITA team poll.

"My excitement is overwhelming," Markovic said. "I can't wait to join the Longhorns and fight to win championships."

Original article posted at http://www.texassports.com/news/2017/7/18/womens-tennis-signs-serbian-standout-bojana-markovic.aspx

Trivunovic is transfer of power

Junior transfer Vesna Trivunovic leads fifth-seeded Columbia College into the NAIA Tournament, which begins Tuesday in Sioux City,Iowa. The Serbia native, who spent her first two seasons at an Illinois junior college, is tied for third in the NAIA with 4.8 kills per set.

By Matt Nestor Columbia Daily Tribune

Friday, November 26, 2010

Vesna Trivunovic said she doesn't remember what her expectations were when she decided to leave her native Serbia to come to the United States to play volleyball.

She boiled the move down to experiencing something new while continuing her education and her volleyball career.

After two seasons playing at Lake Land Community College in Mattoon, Ill., Trivunovic found something she wasn't looking for. When Trivunovic visited Columbia College, she got a chance to practice with the Cougars. She liked that she had found a team.

"It's so hard to find a team that you think you're going to belong to," the junior outside hitter said. "Most of the players are just playing. I think this whole team is going along together. In my 16 years playing, I never saw like this team plays."

In her first season in Columbia, Trivunovic, a native of Zrenjanin, Serbia, is one of the key components who will be leading the Cougars next week at the NAIA Tournament at the Tyson Event Center in Sioux City, Iowa.

The three-time champion Cougars, making their 17th straight tournament appearance, are seeded fifth overall and the top seed in Pool E. Columbia (37-2) will face Oklahoma City University on Tuesday, Rocky Mountain University on Wednesday and Azusa Pacific on Thursday.

Bracket play begins Dec. 3 with semifinals and finals scheduled for Dec. 4.

Combining power with a deft touch, Trivunovic makes putting a ball down ? even against defenses aligned to take her out of the game ? look as easy as 1-2-3. But in volleyball, especially against the caliber of teams the Cougars will face next week, you can't just jump to 3. Trivunovic said she wouldn't have the numbers she has without a 1 and a 2.

"Volleyball's not a one-player sport. It's a whole team," Trivunovic said. "The whole team makes one good player. It's not just one. No one's the best player. The passer needs to set the ball. Setter needs to set. Hitter needs to put the ball down."

And that she's done with regularity. Trivunovic, who said she declined NCAA Division I offers to play at Columbia, is among NAIA leaders in kills per set (4.8, tied for third) and total aces (71, ninth).

Trivunovic has fit in seamlessly with the Cougars' up-tempo style of play. She has collected 579 total kills, which ranks fifth in the nation, despite playing in 18 fewer sets than any player inside the top eight.

She wants the ball ? like Michael Jordan. And the Cougars have surrounded her with plenty of Scottie Pippens.

Playing alongside All-American candidates Tally Mattos at libero and Paula Ferreira at setter has helped Trivunovic this season. But the Serbian's play has opened things up for her fellow Cougars.

In the American Midwest Conference Tournament semifinals, Hannibal-LaGrange shifted its best blocker to stop Trivunovic. That allowed middle blocker Ola Shawky and right-side hitter Kelly Corkum to have career nights.

"She's only getting better with us, because she's learning to play with a team," Coach Melinda Wrye-Washington said. "The team has really accepted her, and I think that really makes a big difference. Their chemistry on and off the court has taught them to play together and not be so selfish."

Reach Matt Nestor at 573-815-1786 or e-mail mnestor@columbiatribune.com.

By Colleen Kane

August 22, 2009

This fall, visions of playing college sports will be planted in pint-sized athletes and their parents ? who have their own dreams about scholarships. Of course, in the college recruiting game, dreams run smack into reality. Consider this: Fewer than 6 percent of high school football players will go on to play college football at an NCAA institution, according toNCAA estimates. And overall, most college athletes compete outside of the Division I level, including more than 160,000 at the Division III level, where athletic scholarships aren't offered.

College athletic scholarships ? and roster spots ? aren't easy to come by. So here are a few college recruiting tips for parents and athletes of all ages.

1 Provide your child with challenging athletic opportunities early.

They can be expensive and time-consuming, but development camps, traveling teams or private instruction can prepare your child for playing at the next level, said DePaul men's soccer coach Craig Blazer. Plus, college camps often are attended by coaches and can give your child exposure.

"They need to be in an environment where they're playing the best competition the area provides," Blazer said.

Such teams and camps are available as early as elementary school but probably increase in importance as your child hits junior high. Hall of Fame baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr., who has written books on guiding young athletes, points to 14 as the age athletics "tend to take a serious tone."

2 But don't overwhelm them.

Ripken advocates allowing children to make their own athletic decisions. Forcing them into competing can lead to mental and physical burnout.

"Parents tend to want to speed up the development process," Ripken said. "They overemphasize how much their children need to practice and play. At the early levels, it's important to make it fun. They should try to deflate the pressure as much as they can because many times it's coming from them."

Iowa freshman golfer Gigi DiGrazia, a Driscoll graduate, has seen too many parents dragging their children around the golf course.

"I see parents that are so into it for their kids, but that's the wrong way to approach it," DiGrazia said. "Parents need to guide kids which way to go, not force them."

3 Seek a third-party assessment of your child's abilities so you can be realistic about the future.

Obtain an accurate idea of your child's skill level and potential. The assessment can be done as early as junior high, but remember athletes develop at different rates.

"Everybody wants their child to play basketball at Duke or football at USC," college recruiting writer Laurie Richter said. "When they realize too late in the game that their children's skills aren't at that level, all the other spots are gone."

4 The Internet is a potential college athlete's best friend.

Research universities online, check scholarship Web sites for financial ideas, send e-mails to coaches to start making connections and upload highlight videos and r?sum?s on recruiting Web sites to maximize the Internet's power.

"There are a lot of great Web sites that don't cost anything," Richter said.

5 If your child isn't academically eligible, athletics won't matter.

Read up on academic requirements even before high school so your child completes the necessary courses to attend the selected school.

"The best players fit into our program financially, athletically and academically," Blazer said. "On our team, they're not necessarily the 30 best soccer players but the 30 best student-athletes."

6 Keep an open mind about schools ? most collegiate athletes participate outside of the Division I level.

In 2007-2008, more than 60 percent of NCAA athletes competed at the Division II and IIIlevels. And that doesn't include the teams from nearly 300 NAIA schools, most of which give athletic scholarships.

"The mistake athletes make is that they only target Division I, big-name schools," said Lisa Strasman, of Chicago-based National Collegiate Scouting Association. "They don't realize all of the opportunities that are out there."

Strasman said the NCSA advises athletes to target up to 200 schools originally and that they can expect about a 10 percent return rate on interested schools.

7 Prepare to put in a lot of time and effort to promote your athlete.

DiGrazia called the process of sifting through college mail "grueling".

"It's a lot of work," DiGrazia said. "People think, 'Oh, you're a scholarship athlete; it must all come so easily.' But it didn't. Be ready to work because if you want to play at the next level."

8 Remember the recruiting process is different for every sport and every athlete.

Athletes in non-revenue sports (not football and basketball) will probably have to work harder to be recruited.

"Recruiting budgets differ across the board," Strasman said. "You can't expect the recruiting process to unfold like you see on TV and in the movies. A mistake many students make is that they expect coaches to come knocking on their doors."

Start e-mailing schools and teams that interest you early in high school. Have friends and family take video for a highlight reel to send to coaches. And create an online profile that includes your r?sum? and game film for a place to direct coaches.

ckane@tribune.com

Vukovic scores 4,810 miles away

By Shawn Yonker

Sports Editor

CRISFIELD -- More than 4,810 miles separate Crisfield center Vladimir Vukovic from his home country of Serbia and the club team he grew up playing for.

But after being in the United States for a relatively short period of time, Vukovic has already improved his English, his conditioning and his basketball skills to a point where that expanse may feel a little smaller.

Averaging 12.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks for the Crabbers (5-6), Vukovic has been a force in the Bayside this season, in a year when height is much more prevalent than others.

"I always wanted to come here to play ball," Vukovic said. "I was interested to learn more English and see the difference between the U.S. and Serbia and to make new friends. I think that was a good idea to come here."

But along the way it has been a two-way street. Between what his presence has meant to the team, his classmates and particularly freshman guard Greg Bozman Jr., whose family he lives with, the Serbian may just end up leaving as large an impression on the small Shore town as it has left on him.

"Vlada has been a real positive piece in the school here not just as a player, but as a student as well," Crabbers coach Phil Rayfield said. "He has been able to share his culture and grow up with some of the other kids. It has been a treat having him here."

Vukovic's path to Crisfield was actually paved a few years ago with some ribbing between Rayfield and a Russian player on his son Amrit's Davis & Elkins College basketball team.

Phil Rayfield helps out with basketball camp at the Division III school in Elkins, W. Va., every summer and he began asking his son's sizable foreign players if they had a little brother or friend who would like to come to high school and play basketball.

"It was a big joke every year," Rayfield said.

This past summer when junior center Milos Micic, a native of Serbia, first told him he had a cousin who wanted to come to the U.S. to play basketball, the veteran coach was of course skeptical.

But it has turned out to have plenty of substance.

"I thought it was just another joke," Rayfield said. "He said 'No I really have a cousin who wants to come to the States.' I said, 'How tall is he?' When he said 6-foot-7, I said 'I think we can make that work.'"

So when the school year was about to start Rayfield and assistant coach Greg Bozman Sr., hit the airport to pick up Vukovic. Spotting him coming through immigration wasn't a problem. The first thing he did was apologize for his English.

"I asked him did he understand triple threat position and box out," Rayfield said. "He said yes and I told him he'd be just fine."

But he has been more than just fine earning A's and B's in the classroom while reading and writing English at a high level. It was only the conversational English that was lacking when he arrived and that has improved dramatically.

Vukovic grew up about 30 minutes from Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, with his parents and younger sister. He played basketball in the Serbian club system for the past eight years and is used to playing with players older than himself. So being on a team of player his own age and younger has been an adjustment.

So has living with the Bozmans and son, his teammate whom he's come very close with.

"I don't have brother," Vukovic said. "At home I have a sister, but right now I have brother."

The two have become so close that at times now they fight like brothers and their games of one-on-one are the stuff of sibling rivalry.

"It is good for him because he's a ninth grader and he's 14 and he is enjoying an experience and an opportunity I never had," Bozman Sr. said. "I think it has been great for (Vukovic) too, from watching them interact."

To Vukovic the thought of playing basketball in the U.S. has always been a dream.

When he was little he loved watching his favorite player, Vlade Divac, who starred for the Serbian national team and in the NBA, and following Serbian first division power Red Star.

But as his basketball horizons have broadened he found himself waking at 3 a.m. to watch NBA basketball on television, because of the time difference.

So when Bozman Sr. took his son, Vukovic and teammate Montez Conner to a game between the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Nets, his house guest was in heaven.

"There I was watching for real," Vukovic said. "I saw Vince Carter who in the Olympic Games dunked over a player who was 7-3."

While living with coach Bozman has been one thing working out with him and working on his game has been another benefit. At 6-8, the former Washington High School coach is the only one at Crisfield who can match Vukovic's size.

Though listed on the roster as a 6-foot-7 center, he points out he is actually "6-7-and-a half," and knows that working on his versatility will help him in the long run. Especially since he said he'd like to play basketball and attend college in the U.S.

"My size is right now good for center or power forward, but for next level I need to play a different position," Vukovic said. "Here 6-1 is center. I am 6-7 and I am here a very big man -- not 'Big Man' -- but tall man. In Serbia, I think players are taller, but not that strong. Here players are good athletes like the player from Snow Hill Keith (Jackson) who can dunk like the NBA or the player from Pocomoke, Sebastian (Sturgis)."

When Vukovic first arrived he was recovering from a knee injury, so conditioning was a problem. He said that the first practice he felt like everyone was running around him, but that improved. Then in the season-opener at Mardela he forgot to take his knee brace. A teammate fell on his leg and he injured it again.

"I said to myself just play," he said. "Don't worry about injuries just play. After every game, I would use ice and right now the knee is much better, but not like before the injury. I need a little rest, but now is no time for rest."

Now is not the time for rest with the stretch run of the season and then the playoffs approaching he wants to help the Crabbers. And he wants to be seen by college coaches who may give him the chance to keep playing on U.S. soil as well as continue his education.

And while Phil Rayfield will never be able to joke with his son's players about relatives who may want to come to the U.S. without a little glimmer of hope, you could also consider him surprised that it has gone this well.

"Certainly he has lived up to my expectations," Phil Rayfield said. "He has been a good plus for the team and helped us fill the hole we had very well. He works hard and he's a good kid.

"He's the kind of young man that as a father you would like to have as a son...

"Well, in my case probably a grandson."

syonker@dmg.gannett.com

410-845-4642

Additional Facts

Meet Vladimir Vukovic

AGE: 17

FAMILY: Father, Goran; mother, Sanja; sister, Marina (13).

HOME COUNTRY: Serbia

FAVORITE U.S. PLAYER: Lebron James

FAVORITE EUROPEAN PLAYER: Dirk Novitzki

BIGGEST ADJUSTMENT TO THE U.S.: The speed of the game and speaking English.

WHAT PEOPLE WOULDN'T KNOW ABOUT HIM: "In games when I am very upset I cuss in my language," Vukovic said. "Nobody can understand me, but I feel better."

Term 'Student-Athlete' Should Be Questioned

By Dom Giordano, For The Bulletin

Published: Friday, December 19, 2008

This column is dedicated to Dr. Jan Kremp, who passed away this past week at the age of 59. Who is Jan Kremp? Jan Kremp is the former University of Georgia professor who made national news in the 1980s when she blew the whistle on the University of Georgia Athletic Department for their preferential treatment of college athletes who could not meet academic standards.

Her courageous decision to do this forced a widespread examination of the questionable practices at athletic departments of other schools across the country.

Kremp was dismissed from her job at Georgia and embarked on a big legal battle to fight this injustice. A jury ultimately determined that she was dismissed illegally and awarded her $2.5 million in damages and forced the University of Georgia to give her job back. Her case forced examination of many colleges with big-time athletic programs and found widespread abuses.

Kremp?s cause was not only noble, it was absolutely necessary. Thanks to her, the scrutiny over this controversy meant abuses like these could not, and would not, be able to be quietly swept under the rug.

Her trial also gave us great insight into the mindset of the college leaders, administrators and athletic staff who are only interested in keeping athletes eligible, rather than actually try to improve their abilities off the court and field. The defense attorney for the University of Georgia gave us the summary of their incredible position when he said about many athletes, ?We may not make a university student out of him, but if we can teach him to read and write, maybe he can work at the post office rather than as a garbageman when he gets through with his athletic career.?

Who would have thought that our nation?s colleges had such dismal aspirations for its students? Universities are supposed to be institutions of higher learning, not lowered educational standards.

I wonder how many people, when rooting for their favorite team in the upcoming BCS battles, will think the same thing? Will they face the truth and embrace the notion that college teams are really semi-pro teams?

The reality is, many of these players are not ?student-athletes,? because cannot even meet the bare minimum academic requirements that a typical institution would and should expect of them.

I was thinking about Jan Kremp a lot when I recently interviewed a representative from the New America Foundation on my education/parenting radio show. Every year, New America Foundation conducts an eye-opening Academic Bowl Championship Series [Academic BCS] rankings. In this poll, they rank the top 25 football teams by their graduation rates of players and other academic measures. It came as no surprise to me that Oklahoma and Florida, who will face each other in the BCS championship game, rank at near the very bottom of the academic rankings. Oklahoma comes in 20th and Florida comes in at 21st. Florida even had an astounding margin of 25 percent more white players graduating than black players.

For the second consecutive year, the Boston College Eagles ranked first in the Academic BCS rankings.

They were followed by Northwestern and Penn State. Penn State is ranked sixth in the entire country in the football polls and is an athletic powerhouse yet they do well academically. In fact, my guest told me their graduation rate is stronger for black players over their former players who are white. Again, Penn State points to the notion that you can do well in sports and still help athletes to achieve in the classroom.

Let me say right here that I love sports. I love competition. I think the branding of the NCAA?s ads about student-athletes should be a noble one. But in reality, they should be cited for fraud.

How many of the athletes that we see playing in football bowl games over the next few weeks are students at all? How many will never play pro ball, or if they do play briefly, get injured and then have nothing to fall back on? I guess the defense lawyer for the University of George said it best: They can be prepared to put their college experience to work as a garbageman.

Teacher-turned-talk show host Dom Giordano can be heard weeknights on WPHT Radio (1210 AM). You can send questions to Dom via e-mail at askdomg@aol.com. You can also write to him with questions at PO Box 355, Lumberton, N.J. 08048.

College athletes studies guided toward 'major in eligibility'

By Jill Lieber Steeg, Jodi Upton, Patrick Bohn and Steve Berkowitz, USA TODAY

Steven Cline left Kansas State University last spring with memories of two years as a starting defensive lineman for a major-college football team. He left with a diploma, credits toward a master's degree and a place on the 2007 Big 12 Conference all-academic team.

He also left with regrets about accomplishing all of this by majoring in social sciences ? a program that drew 34% of the football team's juniors and seniors last season, compared with about 4% of all juniors and seniors at Kansas State. Cline says he found not-so-demanding courses that helped him have success in the classroom and on the field but did little for his dream of becoming a veterinarian.

"I realize I just wasted all my efforts in high school and college to get a social science degree," says Cline, who adds he did poorly in biology as a freshman, then chose what an athletics academic adviser told him would be an easier path.

His experience reflects how the NCAA's toughening of academic requirements for athletes has helped create an environment in which they are more likely to graduate than other students ? but also more likely to be clustered in programs without the academic demands most students face.

Some athletes say they have pursued ? or have been steered to ? degree programs that helped keep them eligible for sports but didn't prepare them for post-sports careers.

"A major in eligibility, with a minor in beating the system," says C. Keith Harrison, an associate professor at the University of Central Florida, where he is associate director of the Institute of Diversity and Ethics in Sports.

A USA TODAY study of the majors of juniors and seniors in five prominent sports at 142 of the NCAA's top-level schools shows athletes at many institutions clustering in certain majors, in some cases at rates highly disproportionate to those of all students.

The study involved the fall 2007 student rolls and the 2007-08 rosters for Division I teams in five sports ? football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball and softball.

All 120 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) were included, as were 22 other Division I schools with standout men's or women's basketball teams. Nearly 9,300 athletes across 654 teams were covered by the study. Among the findings:

?83% of the schools (118 of 142) had at least one team in which at least 25% of the juniors and seniors majored in the same thing. For example, seven of the 19 players on Stanford's baseball team majored in sociology.

?34% of the teams (222 of 654) had at least one such cluster of student-athletes.

?More than half of the clusters are what some analysts refer to as "extreme," in which at least 40% of athletes on a team are in the same major (125 of 235). All seven of the juniors and seniors on Texas-El Paso's men's basketball team majored in multidisciplinary studies, for example.

Education specialists say such clustering raises a range of potential problems, including academic fraud; certain majors and classes having dubious academic requirements; and coaches and athletics academic advisers inappropriately influencing students' decisions on majors and classes.

Clustering in relatively easy areas of study is one way athletes cope with the time demands they face from participating in sports, Cline and other athletes say. It also appears to be an unintended consequence of NCAA schools' decisions to make it easier for athletes to become eligible to play as freshmen but harder for them to remain eligible in later years.

"Clustering by itself is replicated in many parts of the university. It's not necessarily bad," NCAA President Myles Brand says.

"But when you have extreme clustering ? you really do have to ask some hard questions: Is there an adviser who's pushing students into this? Are there some faculty members who are too friendly with student-athletes? I'm not saying that's the case. But I think you have to ask those questions."

Brand adds that it's up to each school to do so. "There are limits to what the national office can, and should, do," he says. "Anything to do with the academic programs really falls entirely within the purview of the individual institutions."

Questions about clustering get at the basic social contract of college sports.

Instead of being paid, scholarship athletes get a free education. And, according to University of Hartford President Walter Harrison, who chairs the NCAA Division I Committee on Academic Performance: "There are many values of a college education, but among them is majoring in something that will prepare you for a satisfying career."

Cline believes that now. He arrived at Kansas State from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in 2003 and intended to pursue a pre-veterinary program.

"The athletics academic advisers emphasized it was going to be really difficult," he says. "But I tried it anyway."

When the biology class went badly, he and his advisers discussed options, including retaking the class. Homesick and wanting to finish college as soon as possible, he says, he "dropped down" to social sciences, a program Kansas State's website says is one of four interdisciplinary majors in the College of Arts and Sciences that "provide options for those who have not chosen a specialized major."

"The athletics academic advisers said, 'This is what everybody is doing. It's the easiest major,' " recalls Cline, who emphasizes that ultimately he ? not his advisers ? chose his degree program.

Cline completed his degree in four academic years. Afterward, with one season of athletic eligibility left, he stayed at Kansas State and spent the 2007-08 school year in a master's program in college student personnel.

The program is designed to prepare candidates for work at college "student affairs agencies," according to the university's website. Cline says he didn't complete it and doesn't intend to "because it wasn't what I wanted to do."

He now is working in construction so he can save money and try to return to school as a pre-vet student.

"The whole time I was at Kansas State, I felt stuck ? stuck in football, stuck in my major. ? It was a stupid effort on my part. I wouldn't advise any other athlete to do that. I'd tell them to choose a career ? a real career for their life after football and work toward it. Don't let anybody or anything take you off that path. Don't fool yourselves into thinking (you're) going to play (sports) professionally.

"Now I look back and say, 'Well, what did I really go to college for? Crap classes you won't use the rest of your life?' Social science is really nothing specific. ? I was majoring in football."

Kansas State provost M. Duane Nellis says the university tries "to be supportive of athletes to be able to pursue what they dream to have as their degree path.

"We've had starting athletes in basketball who went on to ? get into veterinary medicine. Any student can get out of sequence if they're in a prescribed curriculum ? and if they get out of sequence, it leads them down a different path. They also have to realize, when they decide to pursue athletics, there are time commitments and parameters around that."

'A mixed message being sent'

Cline's situation provides a window on the day-to-day machinery of big-time college sports, which can be a physical and psychological grind on student-athletes.

Basketball games, and a few football games, are played on weeknights. Sometimes games are played close to exams. It's not unusual for baseball teams to play five days a week, with games in three different towns.

"There's a mixed message being sent out here" about the importance of academics in college sports, Georgia Tech men's basketball coach Paul Hewitt said in June before the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

Several athletes echo Hewitt's sentiments.

Former Boise State safety Marty Tadman was among the 48% of the football team's juniors and seniors majoring in communication during the 2007-08 academic year. Boise State's communication program also drew 50% of the juniors and seniors on the men's basketball and women's basketball teams.

"You hear which majors, and which classes, are the easiest and you take them," Tadman says. "You're going to school so you can stay in sports. You're not going for a degree. ? It's a joke."

Like other students, athletes are influenced by their peers. Former Southern California offensive lineman Drew Radovich majored in sociology, putting him among the 58% of the football team's juniors and seniors ? and 19% of USC's ? in that major. "If I went back and did it all over again, I wouldn't have picked" sociology, says Radovich, now with the Minnesota Vikings. "A lot of other offensive linemen were picking sociology, so I picked it."

Under NCAA rules, schools are required to make academic counseling and tutoring available to athletes.

These services can be provided and paid for by athletics departments, which have been making them ? and the facilities in which they are based ? increasingly elaborate in recent years.

And because of the NCAA's complex requirements, which often differ from those of a university or individual academic department, academic advisers are involved in many athletes' course selections.

'Perfect storm' for problems

With Division I athletes, that involvement usually stems from what's known as The 40-60-80 Rule, which took effect for athletes entering school after Aug. 1, 2003.

To stay eligible to play, athletes must complete 40% of their degree work by the end of their second year of enrollment, 60% by the end of their third year and 80% by the end of their fourth year. Under previous rules, those percentages were 25, 50 and 75.

The increased demands for progress toward a degree have been accompanied by reduced requirements for incoming athletes to be eligible to play as freshmen.

Until recently, incoming athletes had to have at least an 820 SAT score or 68 ACT sum score. Now, if they have a sufficient grade-point average in a set of core academic classes, they can be eligible as freshmen with any standardized score.

"It's a perfect storm formula" for pressure on advisers, says Gerald Gurney, senior associate athletics director for academics and student life at the University of Oklahoma. "A population of weaker students with higher (academic) demands," layered upon a national trend of academic departments raising requirements for entry into certain majors.

There also is a new NCAA rule that threatens penalties for teams with too many players who become academically ineligible or fail to graduate. Based on their annually published Academic Progress Rate (APR), teams can lose scholarships and eventually become ineligible for postseason play, either of which can embarrass a school and affect a team's ability to win.

Hewitt, the Georgia Tech men's basketball coach, bluntly articulated many coaches' view of the "unintended consequences" of the APR system at the Knight Commission meeting in June. He said then that when an NCAA official came to the Atlantic Coast Conference meetings four years ago to discuss the APR system, "almost every coach said: 'You understand what you're basically telling us. We're going to encourage our kids to take the easiest path to eligibility.'

"So if I'm at a Georgia Tech, I'm not going to tell a young man he can't major in engineering," Hewitt said. "But I certainly will counsel him before he takes that first class that ? if you decide to go down this road and for some reason you find it harder than you expected and you decide to change your major, you're probably more than likely going to end up being ineligible" for sports.

At Georgia Tech last year, 63% of the juniors and seniors on the men's basketball team majored in management. So did 83% of those on the baseball team and 82% of those on the football team. A little more than 11% of all juniors and seniors at the school were in the major.

Isma'il Muhammad, a basketball player who earned a management degree from Georgia Tech in 2005, said he considered majoring in international affairs, but "it just didn't make sense. I would have had to stop playing basketball," which he has been doing professionally outside the USA since graduating.

Asked why management is so popular among athletes, he said, "They want to own their own business or have other big aspirations. Also, we're not crazy. ? Was management easier than engineering? Of course, but Georgia Tech doesn't offer any easy classes or easy majors. It's not like I was a basketball player majoring in pottery."

Muhammad also says he has leads for post-basketball jobs. "Finding a job is not an issue even in this economy we have right now," he says. "A lot of people are affiliated with Tech and (are) fans of basketball and Coach Hewitt."

Bob Vomhof, a former Colorado State football player also still pursuing his sport in a lower level of the pro ranks, has similar confidence in his future prospects ? but with a retrospective different from Muhammad's.

Vomhof graduated with a degree in liberal arts, a program that last year had 65% of the junior and senior football players and about 2% of all juniors and seniors at the school. As a junior he wanted to change his major to construction management, he says, but decided that with the time he had to spend on football he couldn't make the move.

Speaking from his hometown of Gillette, Wyo., after spending part of the past Arena Football League season on the San Jose SaberCats practice squad, he says of his outlook: "I think I'll be OK. No matter how bad the job market gets everywhere else, you can always get jobs up here."

This fall, he has been a substitute teacher and has prepared for another AFL tryout. Would he have had a different major without football's time demands?

"If I had all the time of a regular student, I would have tried to make the most of my education and get a degree that gave me a skill. I know if I were a parent, I wouldn't want all my money going to a degree like liberal arts."

Contributing: Michael McCarthy, A.J. Perez, Erik Brady

zanima ne kako funkcionise sistem stipendiranja za sportiste, konkretno zenska kosarka..

Univerzitet George Washington se nalazi u američkoj prestonici Va?ingtonu i nudi dobre mogućnosti za studente osnovnih i postdiplomskih studija. Na svakih 13 studenata postoji jedan predavač, a univerzitet pohađaju studenti iz vi?e od stotinu zemalja ?irom sveta. Studenti iz Srbije mogu da očekuju obrazovanje svetske klase u veoma urbanom okru?enju.

Međunarodni akademski centar kao domaćin događaja posebno ohrabruje studente-sportiste da dođu na predavanje, po?to je i sam gost, Slavko Bradić, na George Washington univerzitet do?ao preko ko?arka?ke stipendije. Gospodin Bradić je veoma zainteresovan da dalje poma?e mladim ljudima u Srbiji u daljem obrazovanju.

Mesto događaja: Međunarodni akademski centar, Majke Jevrosime 18/II

Početak: Ponedeljak, 7. juli, 18 časova

Molimo zainteresovane da nam se jave na broj 011/334 5227 i potvrde dolazak.

****

Monday 7 July 6.00 p.m. Slavko Bradic, Admission Officer from George Washington University, will be here to talk about undergraduate admission opportunities at George Washington University, as well as the US education system.

George Washington University is located in the heart of Washington, DC. It offers great opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students. The school boasts a student to faculty ratio of 13:1. Students from more than 100 countries are represented on the campus and Serbian students can expect a world class education experience in a very urban setting. Furthermore, GW is the nation's leader in student internships per capita.

We particularly encourage student athletes to attend this meeting as Mr. Bradic attended George Washington University through a basketball scholarship. He has a great interest in assisting young people in Serbia with their education.

******

Pozdrav!

unapred hvala

The Associated PressPublished: November 7, 2006

LOS ANGELES: First-year forward Nikola Dragovic of Belgrade, Serbia, will miss UCLA's first 10 basketball games because he played on a team defined by the National Collegiate Athletic Association as professional.

UCLA said that while Dragovic wasn't paid for the 10 games he played with Mega Ishrana, an unknown number of players were compensated.

"Nikola and his father tried to do everything the right way to keep his amateur status," UCLA coach Ben Howland said Tuesday. "They were unaware that anyone on the team had accepted money. This is very unfortunate, but we will comply with the NCAA's ruling."

Dragovic will be reinstated in time for the Bruins' 11th game of the season, a home contest against Michigan on Dec. 23. UCLA, ranked sixth in the AP's preseason poll, will open its season against Brigham Young University at Pauley Pavilion on Nov. 15.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/08/...LA_Dragovic.php