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Friday, March 29, 2024
The Eagle

Athletes swap sports for studies

On Stands Now

With 11 varsity teams and 229 varsity athletes, AU has its share of students who devote a full schedule to both sports and academics. While some are able to maintain that balance between for all four years, some choose to trade the title of “student-athlete” for just student.

Former men’s soccer player Brett Habermehl, now a junior, left the team as a sophomore following the 2012 season in order to prepare for medical school.

Despite no longer having to commit around 18 hours each week to the soccer team, Habermehl admits being just a student was a new experience.

“The biggest change I found after no longer playing was not being directly affiliated as an ‘athlete’ or as a ‘soccer player,’” Habermehl said. “I have been playing soccer for as long as I can remember. I felt that before I was always defined as the soccer player. After I stopped playing, I found that wasn’t seen as that any more, which had its positives and negatives.”

This past season the men’s soccer team played 20 regular season games in the fall, as well as countless hours dedicated to practice and conditioning.

Habermehl, a biology major and a computer science minor, has made valuable use of all his newfound free time, he said.

Habermehl is researching with two professors on campus and works with the Leadership Council for Peer Health to teach health curriculum in schools that lack health education. He is also responsible for leading and fundraising for trips for global medical brigades to go to Peru, Panama and Honduras, and he has taken on more responsibilities in his medical fraternity, Phi
Delta Epsilon.

“I realized what was more important to me,” Habermehl said. “As much as I loved and enjoyed soccer, I realized I would rather focus on medicine and getting into medical school.”

Although a tough choice, Habermehl is confident in his decision, he said.

“[I] made the right decision for what I want out of life,” Habermahl said.

After two seasons as a member of the AU swim team swimmer, senior James Connors decided that he wanted to experience college more as just a student and that he could no longer maintain the balance between student and academic life.

Connors said that his interest in getting an internship and studying abroad in Rome were two of the main reasons why he dropped swimming.

Although he has much more free time, he still puts majority of his focus toward school, he said.

“My No. 1 focus in college, regardless of whether I was swimming or not, has been on academics,” Connors said. “While my grades did improve slightly after my retirement, I wouldn’t correlate the improvement with my retirement. My focus has always been on grades.”

After 15 years of swimming, Connors said it is a relief to go for a leisurely swim and not worry about the next competition or scoring certain times.

Confident in his decision, Connors is grateful for his dedicated coaches and teammates and enjoyed his time as a swimmer here but does not regret his final choice.

“While it was certainly a difficult decision to stop swimming,” Connors said, “[the decision was] ultimately one that I felt was right for me and one that I was happy with.”
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sports@theeagleonline.com_

Full Disclosure: Danielle Krachie is a member of the AU women’s varsity soccer team.


 Hosts Delaney Hoke and Penelope Jennings speak to swimmer Caleb Farris and diver Amanda bosses about their unique experiences as college athletes. 



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