Wauconda football team brings teamwork to learning

The days get long for high school athletes. Really long.

They are up early for school, even earlier if there is a morning practice or lifting session in the weight room.

A full day of classes usually leads them right into a 2- to 3-hour practice or game.

Then it's home for a late dinner, capped by homework late into the night … until their eyes won't stay open any longer.

This is the routine. Day after day after day. For months at a time.

“It's hard because you're getting home late and you're exhausted from practice, and doing homework is something that you don't want to do,” Wauconda senior linebacker Alex Machon said. “You just want to go home and have that decompression time. You just want to eat, shower and go to bed.”

Well, at Wauconda, Machon and his teammates can do just that.

And no, teachers at Wauconda haven't suddenly stopped assigning homework. Rather, head football coach Dave Mills has decided to make homework and school a priority for his players.

He wants every player in the program to have at least a 3.0 grade point average, or better.

“It's important to us,” Mills said. “We really want to try to help our players be better students, too.”

So on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Wauconda, study time comes before practice time.

Before the Bulldogs even hit the practice field, they've got nearly a full hour after school to concentrate on their academics. They can do homework, work on projects with teammates, and even meet with teachers for extra help and tutoring.

The school day at Wauconda ends at 2:40 p.m. and the football players have until 3:30 p.m. to study before football practice starts.

“Being a student-athlete, you need all the help you can get,” Wauconda senior running back Tyler Stankiewicz said. “We are always in a time crunch. It really benefits the entire team for us to be able to work on things for school in the afternoon, before practice. Before we get tired. And it's nice when you come home to be able to relax and have the night to yourself.

“I wish the coaches in my other sports (wrestling and track) would do the same thing.”

Mills and his staff came up with this idea last year, and piloted the program mainly with the freshman class. Now, every football player at every level is involved.

There's even a twist. The players are drafted onto teams by all the coaches on the staff, each of whom heads up a team. There are about eight teams within the program, about 15 players per team. There are players of all ages on each team.

Each week, the teams compete for the best grade point average for the week. The winners get tickets for an end-of-season raffle that will feature extra team gear and goodies.

“It's a really good idea because it makes us work together to make sure we're all on top of our studies,” Machon said. “We want to turn around the typical perception of the football team, that we're just a bunch of meatheads out there slamming into each other.

“We want to be good students, too. One of the big parts is the incentives we get, awards for the winning teams. It makes you want to do well in school so that you're not letting down your (academic) teammates. It keeps you accountable.”

Machon says that even as an experienced senior, he benefits from that structure. He has his hands full in the classroom. Of his five academic classes, four are advanced placement classes. The other is an honors class. He's got a 4.3 grade point average over his career.

Stankiewicz, a four-year varsity player, also doesn't mess around in the classroom. He's taken two AP history classes and typically carries better than a 3.5 grade point average.

“I think most guys are all for this because we want to be the best we can be, in football and in school,” Stankiewicz said. “It can't just be all about sports. You've got to work to be good in school, too, because that's how most people are going to go to college.”

The interesting thing about Mills is that his off-field academic program is just the start of his outside-the-box thinking. He's come up with some other helpful programs that have pushed his players to grow in other ways.

For instance, the football program has always been very active in community volunteering, such as its work each winter during snowstorms. The football players shovel the driveways of older citizens in town.

“I like how coach isn't just focused on team stuff. He's focused on his players as a whole. He's trying to make us better people,” Stankiewicz said. “He hits on everything, football, school and people skills. He wants us to come out of high school having grown as a person, an athlete, a student and as a man.”

pbabcock@dailyherald.com

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