Blake Murphy Sports Writing

EDMONTON – Practise makes perfect, so the saying goes, but the NAIT Ooks women’s basketball team isn’t allowed into their own gym right now.

That’s fine with Todd Warnick, head coach of the 7-3 squad. His team sits fifth in the tight Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference standings, four points back of first-place Augustana.

Right now, school work, not team work, is front and centre.

“Ultimately, the focus is on being student-athletes and exams are the priority right now,” said Warnick, whose team is not having any practices since their gym is in use as an examination room. “We tell the girls that if they’re not academically eligible to play, they won’t help the team in the second half anyway.”

Activities in the Canadian Interuniversity Sports Canada West and ACAC wrapped up this past weekend in advance of the winter exam season, giving teams a break until the first or second weekend of the new year.

For student-athletes, December marks a difficult transition from focusing on athletic performance to focusing on classroom performance.

“These next two weeks, we have a few mandatory practices and a few optional ones so we can study for exams,” said Karla Bourke, captain of the University of Alberta Pandas women’s hockey team. “We’re really cramming for exams and trying to get the rest we can so we’re ready for them.”

The month off from competition might sound like a nice break until you realize just how much is on the plates of student-athletes on their supposed time off. Exams are the most pressing issue, with the CIS in particular requiring that a 65-per-cent academic average be maintained for athletes on scholarships to remain eligible. There’s no easy way around this, either, as participating students must be enrolled in a minimum of three courses per term.

Once exams wrap up, the holiday break provides an opportunity to see family and head home for some out-of-town athletes. The U of A Golden Bears hockey team, for example, has nine players who originate from outside the province, while the men’s basketball team has only five players from the Edmonton area.

In between studying and catching up with relatives, there are also workouts. With the season only halfway finished, players can’t afford to simply stay away from the gym for the month. Instead, the athletes are tasked with optional practices and off-court training plans to keep them in peak shape for January.

“We know the best teams in the league are going to be working hard over the course of the break,” said Howie Baker, head coach of the Pandas women’s hockey team. “So that certainly has to be a focus for our team as well.”

For the U of A Golden Bears volleyball team, the downtime threatens to halt the momentum of their undefeated season. At 12-0, the Bears have lost just four sets the entire year. Alberta went undefeated in 2008-09 as well, losing just six sets, but before that no Canada West men’s volleyball team had went undefeated since 1988-89. Still, the team will get the necessary time off to study and relax.