The rigor of academics is tough. The rigor of athletics is tough. Combine those two together and it totals long hours and intense pressure for student athletes.

However, at a school like St. Paul Academy and Summit School, academics are the first priority. Student athletes have to work to ensure quality time is spent not only on their academics, but athletics and their other extracurriculars.

But can the intense role academics play have a negative effect on the quality of athletics?

According to Athletic Director Peter Sawkins, the harmony of academics and the other activities SPA offers is what makes for a complete education. “I think of this school as not only providing an excellent athletic foundation, but also a comprehensive education which includes, academics, the arts and athletics,” he said. “It’s the marriage of all three of those within an institution that provides that complete education and gives our students the perspective to be successful leaders in whatever field they pursue.”

But as they are planning the athletic school year, they keep SPA’s core mission of academics at the forefront. “We try to consider scheduling in a way that allows people to think about their academics as rigorously as they need to,” Sawkins said. “But clearly athletics takes time and energy and it’s about finding that right balance, which can be very personal for each individual.”

For some students, though, the total workload can be too much. In situations like these, Sawkins believes that working with the student on an individual basis is the best policy. This may involve additional input from the principal or coaches.

The flexibility extends both ways as student athletes have found teachers to be understanding in certain scenarios. “As a whole when [my team] has had far away games I feel like the next day, teachers have been pretty lenient and forgiving when it comes to homework and tests,” hockey, soccer, and baseball player senior Peter Wood said.

Wood has also seen an increase in his time management skills. “Using all your free periods in the day is very valuable, especially when you have night games,” Wood said. “It catches up to you very quickly if you didn’t use your time in school.”

But he admits that working on game days can be tough with all the anticipation a game day comes with. “You find yourself thinking about the game a lot throughout the day, which is tough,” he said. “But it’s important to try and forget everything and work on homework for at least some time.”

Sophmore basketball player Bella Martinez agrees with this. “[The basketball team] definitely had a lot of late games this year, which made it harder to find time for homework,” sophomore she said. “It’s important to use the time you have before games and in free periods to get work done. There were some nights where I couldn’t finish everything I needed to.”

While SPA is able to boast a rigorous academic environment and an impressive arts department, Sawkins believes that its reputation for an emphasis on academics does deter some students from coming. “I think there are kids that we would very much like to have here who are very bright, very good citizens, and great athletes who are not coming to SPA because of athletics. There is some truth to that,” he said. “As a department, we are trying to change that mindset.”

The first step in doing that, Sawkins believes, is building awareness. “I think there things we can do from a branding perspective in on our uniforms, on the press we get, and just things we can do externally to get the school on the radar,” he said. “Our big selling point is the academics but there are clearly very qualified students who are also very good athletes.”