Rethink How You Help Your Athletes' Academics
Why Study Halls Suck (And A Better Solution)
Every college program I’ve ever been a part of has had the same blanket solution for helping their athletes’ academics. The dreaded study hall. Now ask any athlete what they feel about this practice and you will watch them fume. And for good reason.
For those who don’t know, the typical study hall prescription is forcing students under some arbitrary GPA to be in the library doing schoolwork from 7:00pm to 8:30pm with a supervisor. There are different versions but they have the same gist.
Study hall babies and patronizes young men and women by generalizing their problems and applying a blanket solution. It’s such a boomer way of looking at things. “The issue is you just don’t know how to work hard- I’m gonna sit you in this chair till you get something done.”
Really, it’s just a way for coaches and administrations to say they “did something” when a student comes up ineligible at semester.
They couldn’t even be bothered to spell do-rag right.
At no point in this document do they even explain the goals or reasons for this practice. They just list requirements treating young men and women like toddlers. God forbid someone needs a break or has an important document, image, calendar on their phone.
Study halls aren’t a good use of anyone's time when they ignore the reasons students struggle.
Here’s my evidence.
As a coach, I supervised study hall for 5 consecutive years. I kept track of grades during that time and during my time, I saw a negligible .2 increase in GPA for these struggling students. This is abysmal considering that we spend 90 hours for this meager increase (Math: 3 hours/week * 30 weeks).
This lack of effectiveness was just the gaping wound I saw after the obvious symptoms as the supervisor.
From the get-go, it is obvious that some students aren’t working.
They are talking, using their phone, or just browsing the web with their work right there ready to tab over to when you walk by. They find a way to game whatever rules you make.
As you make rules and get closer to tying their face to their textbook, the more they say, “Screw you” and ignore it.
One of the reasons I don’t think study halls work is that they ignore individuality. Each student is very different.
On a simple level, 7:00pm to 8:30pm in the library isn’t ideal for every one of your team members.
Some students are early morning people, some people work better in their dorm. For god’s sake, some people get a little distracted when all their teammates and best friends are in the same room with them.
Just maybe this isn’t the best studying environment for everyone
Not to mention, it doesn’t actually address the individual issues of why that student is struggling.
Not every student’s solution to their academic problem is having a set time to study. Study hall does absolutely nothing to help with common student challenges of organization strategies or their fear of asking for help.
In fact, this patronization that is study hall can perversely affect academics. By forcing them into a room and saying “work now!” you don’t give them autonomy. So they fight back, purposely don’t work because they’re pissed they’re being forced into a “solution” they don’t want and didn’t choose.
Every day I’ve ever run study hall I’ve left that room frustrated. I felt like the guys who were going to use the time would have been working without your direction while the guys who really need help left the room no better than they entered it.
When I became head coach and had the reigns in my hand, I knew I wanted to do it differently
My strategy is that I have biweekly individual 15-minute academic meetings with everyone on the team. Not just the ones struggling.
It has been incredibly effective both academically and in the team's relationships with the coaches.
How it works is that each student sets a day and time that they can meet with a coach and they do so every other week for the whole semester.
The meeting is ~15 minutes long where they talk about academics, training, personal life, whatever. It’s an opportunity to have, what is usually an abnormal, one-on-one with a coach.
We have a basic strategy for how we conduct these meetings.
First, we talk about each class and identify which one they are most concerned about and why.
Then, they come up with a strategy to help deal with this issue and determine what success with this solution would look like. Sometimes it’s how they do on their weekly quiz, sometimes it's just how they feel about the material.
Here’s an example.
Here is how to read this. Student A is worried about educational psychology because the teacher moves really quickly. His solution is that he will take really good notes. He will know that this solution worked if the notes he took contain everything he needed when he sat down to study for an exam.
Is this solution going to be effective, who knows? But it is something they want to do so we will go with it.
Then every subsequent meeting we will go over if he executed the strategy. If he did, we talk about its efficacy. If it worked, great! Keep it going. If it didn’t, we look to find another strategy. If it turns out that educational psych isn’t the concern and calculus is, then we switch our target.
Why this strategy is so much better is that it is student-driven. They make the initiative on what they want to fix and how.
This creates autonomy which makes them actually want to execute the plan. Then the week-by-week review of the plan allows him to see his own efficacy. It makes him feel proud that he can actually make a dent in his issues.
Note that this shouldn’t be grade-driven, don’t work with outcomes if at all possible. This is about the process, not the outcome.
We are trying to teach them to see a problem, develop a strategy, and solve it. If we do that, we know that the outcome (the grade) will take care of itself.
On this note, we also ask them what their goal is for the semester. Inevitably, it’s the GPA, an outcome derived from many actions. They say, “I want a 3.0”. We say, “Okay, what is something that you’re going to do all semester that will drive you towards this goal?”
Here we find the second thing we will review each and every meeting. “I will turn in every assignment on time” or “I will be on time to every class” or “I will participate in every class”.
All of these goals will lead to better grades. And again, they are athlete-driven. They are something they have committed to. This way, they increase their autonomy. Then when turning in your work on time obviously increases their grade, it will help their sense of self-efficacy.
To review, why this works is that it increases that autonomy that the patronizing and babying study hall format drains them of. They feel like it is a solution they decided so they are more willing to do it instead of sitting there gaming the system by only working when their supervisor is looking over their shoulder.
It also creates real accountability. Every time they have their meeting they must face the music of their actions. They know they will be asked if they did the things they said they would do.
Another massive benefit is that it creates some real private time that athletes don’t usually get with their coaches unless they are in trouble. It allows them to open up about issues whether team-wide or personal. It helps you build a bond with each other that ordinarily wouldn’t be there.
To do this though successfully, there are some necessary things to ask of you.
First is time, admittedly, this is more time-intensive. But I think it would be foolish to think it is time wasted. This is the most important moment of my day. It’s the best chance I have to mentor my athletes. I make sure I am present, caffeinated, and ready for every academic meeting.
You also must allow for enough time. You can’t push them out the door. You must fight that urge to read your email. Giving this meeting space allows for communication that cannot take place otherwise.
The most important thing is that you must be a problem collaborator, not a problem solver.
This is tough for most of us. We’re used to being the guru and knowing everything. For a kid who isn’t showing up to class, we may think we know the solution. But being patient, asking earnestly, “Why is this happening?” You get answers that you wouldn’t expect.
Aside from that, there are huge benefits to letting them talk, feel heard, and come up with their own solutions. If you do so, the chances that they actually work to execute the solutions increase dramatically.
I want to reiterate, It is such a big deal to ask why first. Look, I know you’re the coach, you know all the common pitfalls of school. They’re obvious to you: Procrastinating, not showing up, not doing your work, being a jerk in class, being unorganized. We all know there are simple solutions.
Remember though, there isn’t just one solution. There isn’t just one cause either. And I bet, if you give space, open up, and listen to the “why” of their problems, you will build trust and find better individual solutions to the problems they face.
Lastly, We must be so careful to not chastise or hold the hand of our athletes.
These two things may sound different, but their roots are similar. Both of these come from the same patronization/babying that study hall leans on. “All you need to do is sit in the library. It’s simple- DO IT.”
The problems with these are the same as I’ve discussed earlier. They both immediately eliminate their autonomy. Crucifying your athlete for a mistake poisons your message. Babying them by holding their hand tells them that they don’t have the ability to take care of it themselves.
Be patient, be understanding, and allow them to make their own decisions whether positive or negative.
You can warn them they are making a mistake. But more importantly, be there for them when they fall down without saying I told you so. If you refrain from being a jerk, they will respect you more and take your advice more seriously.
Only that way will they make their own good decisions and grow as people.