From College Athlete to High School Teacher

Did you know that some of your teachers and administrators played a college sport? There are about eleven staff members here at C.H.S. who have played all sorts of sports ranging from the first second and third divisions. Most of them loved playing sports in college. Here they are, offering their advice to you college-athlete-hopefuls! .

Kathleen Druzba, the Physical Education teacher here at C.H.S., played field hockey and track & field at Springfield College in Massachusetts. (Coincidentally, this college is where basketball, volleyball, and even the YMCA were invented!) “I enjoyed the prestigious feeling I had when we competed against other division one teams like Yale and Harvard. College sports also helped me realize that there will always be new and amazing relationships and memories to be made throughout life,” said Druzba. Druzba noted that, if she could go back and do it all again, she would definitely play sports in college and she would recommend others to play as well. Mrs. Druzba learned through playing sports in college that there will always be new and amazing relationships and memories to be made throughout life.

Another teacher who played a sport in college, is David Wilkerson. David played cheerleading for James Madison University his freshman year, and he loved it. “I gave it a shot, proved that I could do it, learned a great deal about myself, and I can still toss 100 pound people over my head, so I think it was worth it.” Cheerleading helped David in many ways and he said it helped improve his confidence, time management, commitment, and the ability to perform stunts while smiling. Mr. Wilkerson was also asked if he would recommend young athletes to play sports in college and he responded, “Only if prepared to define the collegiate experience largely through the lens of that singular pursuit should a student consider being a collegiate athlete.” One of David’s best experiences cheerleading for JMU was, “The entire team took a van to the top of a local mountain called Reddish Knob and did stunts matted against the sunset.  Also, when JMU qualified for the NCAA basketball tournament in 1994, I was shown celebrating on national television on the Selection Show in my uniform.”

Out of the eleven known teachers who have played college sports, nine of them recommended young athletes to play in college. From their time and experience playing college sports, they all agreed that it was worth the hard work and dedication they put in. Although many of them thought that playing a college sport was stressful and didn’t allow them to have much free time, their overall opinion on it was good. If you are planning to push yourself to the limit and become the greatest college athlete, then you should, and you should pursue it with intensity.