Whitman College prides itself on an extremely active student body, and understandably so. With 30% of the student body involved in varsity athletics, and a large majority of the remaining population involved in everything from popular intermural sports to kayaking in the Harvey Pool, the Whitman campus is quite active. One resource that active students often get involved in is the pick-up sports community on campus. Though pick-up is not a formally organized outlet on campus, various pick-up groups regularly schedule games that anyone interested is welcome to join.
While DIII athletics lack the prestige of the DI level, Whitman coaches are able to draw players by emphasizing the academics, atmosphere, and balance of the college.
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is the primary recruiting source for college basketball, but does not reflect the skills necessary to make it as a collegiate player.
In a hard-fought NWC semi-final matchup, the Whitman women’s basketball team came up a few plays short of victory, falling to the Whitworth Pirates 55-54 Thursday evening at Ball Court.
Coming from an impressive pre-college basketball career including playing on the Australian Under-14 National team and at the Under-17 world championships, Phil Chircu is now an integral part of the Whitman men’s varsity basketball team.
Every basketball player knows a thing or two about “off daysâ€â€”those days when, for some reason, the shots just can’t find the bottom of the net. Some attribute their atypically poor performances to nervousness before a big game, while others are affected by injury, fatigue or personal problems off the court. The problem affecting the play of Whitman Missionary Bryan Galkey is potentially much larger and more dangerous than any of these explanations.
Whitman student musician-athletes senior Katri Gilbert and sophomore Cheney Doane offer their thoughts on how they balance music and sport with grace and insight.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association advertises the fact that most student athletes go pro in something other than sports. At Whitman, a small NCAA Division III school, the number of students whose athletic careers end with graduation is even higher. For three Whitman graduates last spring, however, that has not been the case.
After a season of continous improvement, Whitman's women's basketball team fought hard through their final game against Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore. last Thurs., Feb. 23.
As most students sat sunken into library couch cushions or quiet room bean-bag chairs the Monday before Thanksgiving Break, Whitman's intramural dodgeball teams began the first day of their 2011 season in the Sherwood racquet-ball courts.
After a disappointing loss in the first round of the playoffs last year, the women return with a new playing style and an eye on the goal of being Northwest Conference champions.
