TO THE EDITOR:
I was disappointed by the conclusions drawn in your article on Nov. 7, “Dropping the ball,” which focused on the dropping Graduation Success Rate of the women’s soccer team at UNC. The facts provided do not correctly address the real causations of this decline.
Your article implies that players who affect the GSR, by not graduating within the six-year window, were dropping out for academic reasons after their fall seasons. In fact, every soccer player that discontinued classes selected to play professionally the spring of her senior year.
Previously, the only professional opportunity offered to players was the U.S. Pro leagues. These leagues were perfect for the GSR because they played in the spring and summer, allowing players to come back in the fall and finish their degrees within the six-year window.
Now some of the best opportunities are to play in leagues overseas, the seasons of which extend into the fall, making it difficult for players to finish within the six-year window.
Two players that affected the team’s GSR, Yael Averbuch and Heather O’Reilly, were both named NSCAA Scholar-Athletes of the Year, a highly competitive award given to one athlete a year who is at the top of his or her sport athletically and academically in the country.
Both took longer to graduate because one was given the opportunity to play professionally in Europe and the other was given the opportunity to compete in the Olympics and the World Cup.
The GSR was created to encourage completion of degrees. Let’s not use it as a means to tell student athletes they are “dropping the ball.”
Carlyle Williamson ’14
Journalism
Global studies
