(Part of The Plebian: April Fool’s Edition)
Over half of the Albion College student body participates in one of 23 varsity sports teams on campus. The college places an emphasis on competing at a high level in the NCAA Division III while also excelling each day in the classroom.
The vast number of student-athletes on campus have a multitude of backgrounds, including many unique players that often go unnoticed. Due to COVID-19, recent decisions regarding athletics on the collegiate, conference and national levels have changed the face of sports this spring at Albion College.
In light of that, and in order to truly appreciate all of the student-athletes who make up Albion athletics, The Pleiad’s “Beyond the Spotlight” series features a different athlete and the impact they have had on campus.
This Week
Featured in this week’s ‘Beyond the Spotlight’ is John Doe, a sophomore from Albion, who is the founder of Brits who Quit, also known as NARPS (Non-Athletic Regular Persons), a group of Britons who have quit their respective sports during their time at Albion College. Doe said that the intention of the club is to help those morning the loss of their sport.
Doe dabbled in a variety of sports in college before deciding to quit them all. Swim, soccer and track are his three former sports.
“Coming from high school to college sports, I wasn’t prepared to wake up for 5:30 practices,” said John Doe. It wasn’t something I came in expecting even though I did it every day in high school.”
Morning practices were a challenge for Doe. He wasn’t used to waking up so early. Doe said this is because he skipped every morning practice all throughout high school. He had such a hard time adjusting his sleep schedule that it just wasn’t worth the time it took away from his academics.
“Another thing I wasn’t prepared for was having to run,” said Doe. “I played goalie, like why do I need to run? I just stand in the goal the whole game. I am not a runner. I quit track. That’s one of the reasons I picked being goalie – so I didn’t have to run.”
Doe passed through his high school season without having to run miles or sprinting any distance, so coming to college and being expected to be a decent runner threw Doe off. It wasn’t something that he had expected. He soon found that others felt similarly.
“I realized that a lot of my fellow Brits that had quit were morning the loss of the game to, so I decided to get a support group kind of thing going for all of us,” said Doe. “When talking we were all kind of wondering what to do with the time that used to be held up by practices. Then, I had the genius idea that during practice times we should come to the fourth floor of the K.C. and grieve together and talk about out loss. Kind of like going through the five stages of grief together.”
Brits who Quit meet everyday in the field behind Kresge Gymnasium from 4-6 p.m.
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