the year I got recruited, they had just won a national championship. So I
was on cloud nine like mom dad I'm going to play for a big time schools
bailey witness plays softball for Arizona State University. The thing that
gets me about softball, it keeps me coming back for more is that it's a
thinking game bailey and her teammates know the meaning of hard work. The
ladies make sure they're prepared to take on their opponents by hitting
the practice field a few times a week in the spring. We're practicing six
days a week so we have one off day but the meaning of hard work also
follows the team into the classroom doing great on the on the field or the
court is wonderful. Clearly we want to win. But I mean I think graduating
and getting that degree is going to take you farther in life bailey along
with the rest of the issue athletes are getting tools to guide them in
their journey to graduation from the university's office of student
athlete development all the way to coaches and faculty. One of the
probably the greatest challenges of student athlete has his organization
and managing their time. So as freshmen we make sure that they have a ton
of structure. Um They have a certain amount of hours if you will. That
they have structured study time within the building here, Jean Boyd is a
senior associate athletic director for the office of student athlete
development at A. S. U. There's always academic professionals who are with
them during that time monitoring what they're doing, monitoring um how
they set up their work week. One of those people is Natalie burgess. She's
an academic coach and life skills coordinator. Making sure that they're
going to their study hall on time that they're getting their class
schedule that they need their classes around practice that they're
complying with all the N. C. A. Requirements for academic eligibility.
Natalie also helps them understand the importance of getting a degree and
provides resources in their job search. We get students in here that are
like I have no idea what I want to do. Help me figure it out and really
you don't tell them what to do. You just ask them questions to try to help
them figure out what they do want to do and what they don't want to do A
issues commitment to both. Athletics and academics is paying off our
graduation success rate was 80% and our grade point average hit 3.0. For
the first time we had a 3.1 after the fall semester. So um definitely
pleased with the progress but we've got our sights set higher. One of the
sun devil teams to be consistent when it comes to doing well in the
academic world is women's tennis. We've done this for consistently and it
doesn't surprise me that we're up to about 80% graduation rate. And like I
said it's it's it's sort of it's like coaching or slight teaches. It's all
a process bailey has proven she can balance her sport and studies. She's
an academic all american and is on track to graduate next May one of our
three prongs is Sun Devils graduate. That's just the Sun devil way. So I
think they do a great job of making sure that students are successful and
they are graduating.