In order to earn the ITA All-Academic Team award, a program must have a cumulative team grade point average of 3.2 or above on a 4.0 scale. Individually, players must be a varsity letter winners, have a grade point average of at least a 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and have been enrolled at their present school for at least two semesters to be recognized as an ITA Scholar-Athlete, according to the press release.
Along with the team's All-Academic status, eight members of the Big Green men's tennis team were individually recognized as ITA Scholar-Athletes including last season's captain Ari Gayer '09, Jeffrey Friedman '10, Andrew Kim '10, David Fink '11, Stephen Greif '11, Curtis Roby '11, David Orbuch '12, and Billy Strunk '12 all earned scholar-athlete status.
The women's tennis team had five members recognized as ITA Scholar-Athletes. Jamie Caplan '09, Jesse Adler '10, Carley Markovitz '10, Mary Beth Winingham '10 and Julia Zak '10 were all recognized for their academic efforts.
Fink, an economics major, said the team's recognition as an academically successful program was a testament to the College's support of student-athletes, specifically by offering academic advisers and programs through the Academic Skills Center.
"It's really great to go to a school where you can not only play a sport but be involved with many clubs and organizations and also do well academically," Fink said.
Upperclassmen on the team also offer advice to incoming members on academics, giving advice on how to choose classes so that students' course loads are not overwhelming, according to Fink. The team's coaches, Chuck Kinyon and Dave Jones, also stress academics, he said.
Roby agreed, saying that other team members are always willing to share their experience about a course or provide help on matters from studying to finding a job. Their coaches are also flexible when academic matters are at stake, allowing players to occasionally miss a practice if it is necessary to fulfill the demands of their academic requirements.
"Our coach is also very understanding about how tough it is to manage your workload around here, especially being on a sports team," he said.
Being part of a competitive team makes it difficult at times to manage academics, Roby said, adding that his time on the tennis team has been one of his favorite experiences at Dartmouth.
"I think being part of a sports program teaches you a lot of that responsibility, and teaches you how to balance multiple aspects of your life," Roby said.
The team members are probably better-suited to manage their academics than some athletes on other teams because players must have demonstrated an ability to perform well in high school and a willingness to take on academic challenges, he said.
Each student honored has taken on a demanding academic schedule while at Dartmouth. Kaplan was a tri-captain last season and majored in psychology with a minor in film studies. Adler, who was another tri-captain last season, majored in psychology as well, and was named Academic All-Ivy this past winter. The final tri-captain last season, Winingham, majors in economics. Zak, also an economics major, has a minor in studio art and Markovitz is studying Government, with minors in Spanish and environmental studies.
"Being at Dartmouth for me and for a lot of student-athletes, our priority is academics and it's really important to find that balance between the classroom and on the court, for me in tennis," Markovitz said. "It feels great to show proof of working so hard ... it's a cumulative goal you can work towards each year."
Markovitz also praised the support offered by professors and coaches to student-athletes including the coach of the women's tennis team, Bob Dallis.
"At Dartmouth, we're really lucky because the atmosphere of the team is geared towards succeeding academically and we're really interested in helping each other," she said.
