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More letters from alumni
about Student
athletes
Student or athlete?
Not both
July 23, 2001
This letter is in response
to a letter written by George Showman '99
that appeared in the July 4 issue of PAW.
In his letter indicting
Princeton's recruiting of student-athletes, and
in asserting the general incompatibility of study and athletics,
Mr.
Showman gives as an example of a "positive athletic experience
on
campus" the Princeton Ultimate Frisbee team, Clockwork Orange.
Mr.
Showman characterizes the team as made up of kids who couldn't make
it
in other sports, and who hadn't come to Princeton to play ultimate,
but
had come together to enjoy the pleasures and lessons of team sports,
while still retaining their cultured, "interesting" side.
According to
Showman, team members also had their priorities straight: when school
work got serious, they would "let their sport fall by the wayside."
I am currently the head
captain of Clockwork Orange, and I can say that
Mr. Showman's notion of Clockwork ultimate as a paradisical sort
of
bookish man's hobby-sport is completely inaccurate. First, it is
not
true that ultimate players are kids who weren't good enough to play
other sports. Most of our players played varsity sports in high
school,
and a few of the were on junior varsity squads here at Princeton.
Ultimate at the college and club level is a hard-played, fast-paced,
physically demanding sport. It requires you to be in excellent practice
and shape. During the Spring, Clockwork has regular conditioning
sessions in addition to our regular thrice a week practices. Second,
it
is not true that nobody ever came to Princeton to play ultimate.
Ultimate was not the only reason I came here, but it was one of
them,
and I am not the only person on the team who factored in Princeton's
ultimate team when I applied and chose to come here. Third, it is
not
true that we drop ultimate like a brick the second school work
intensifies. Clockwork, as you might have inferred by this point,
is
made of a hard-working, competitive, committed group of guys who
really
enjoy ultimate and, through that work and commitment, aim to achieve
team success. The lack of commitment that Mr. Showman extols as
a
virtue is absolutely revolting to me, and to everyone on the team
that
works hard, and makes sacrifices for its benefit. When work intensifies,
members of Clockwork occasionally miss a practice or two. Generally,
they deal, and work harder, and manage their time all the better
(just
like having a job in college makes one do).
It is true that I wasn't
here when Mr. Showman "practiced" with the team
in the late ’90s. However, I know a lot about the players who
composed
the team then, and they were just as hard-working, committed, and
intense as the players today. Denis Hu '99, who would have been
the
captain at the time Mr. Showman says he played with the team, is
famous
for being, perhaps, the most hard-nosed, intense competitor ever
on the
team. If Mr. Showman had ever told Denis Hu that he was letting
ultimate
"fall by the wayside" for a period because he had an Econ
test, I expect
Denis would have had the same response that I would have: "Don't
bother
coming back."
Jacob Dee GS
Head Captain
Clockwork Orange
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