With an average GPA of 3.95, the KHS girls’ volleyball team won the Art Stout Award,  given annually to the team with the highest team GPA, for the fifth year in a row. Coaches Julie Goodmann and Kara Wall said they both stress academics along with athletics, and their players said this has a big impact on the team’s work ethic.

“[The coaches] say it’s important to get your work done in the classroom and to come to the gym every day with a fresh mindset, regardless of school, so we can succeed in the classroom while succeeding in volleyball,” Annie Bryan, junior, said. “So we can do both and still be successful.”

In the past five years, the team has not had below a 3.94 average GPA. The coaches said they  also want their players to be good people, not just good students and athletes.

“I expect that [they] be respectful and do what [they’re] supposed to do in the classroom and that will carry onto the court,” Goodmann said.

Bryan said if a player were to struggle with grades, the coaches would try to help them. And it’s not just the varsity coaches who push students to be successful in school. Both JV and freshman players also attempt to achieve academic success both on and off of the court.

“If you have a D or an F in a class, you have to meet with the coaches and do homework with them,” Polly Rekittke, sophomore, said. “It’s more important than the game.”

The team has won an Art Stout for the last 5 years with the highest being a team GPA of 3.99. Many students take honors and AP classes, which come large workloads.

“They have lots and lots of homework every single night, which I’m not really sure how they do,” Goodmann said.

The volleyball team is a supportive environment that not only stresses maintaining good grades, but aids players in achieving them, Rekittke said. The players know their priorities as student-athletes.

“I can’t play volleyball unless I have my academics where they need to be, so I think academics always come first,” Abby Gunn, junior, said.