Breaking the “dumb jock” stereotype

One of the most prominent stereotypes of our generation is “the dumb jock.” Whether or not people really believe this is hard to say, but it’s made quite evident in movies, books, and TV shows about high school. This year’s baseball pitching staff disproves this stereotype, as they are all studious and understand the value in education. They’ve grown quite close through the years not only because of their similarities in the classroom, but also on the field.

“They’re all hard workers and I like that,” varsity baseball coach Jody Rutherford said. “It’s just the way they were brought up. They’re persistent so that’s good.”

Senior pitcher Ryan Mulllins agrees that the pitchers are close friends because of the routine that they have to follow.

“Yeah I get along really well with all of them,” Mullins said. “I think it’s because we do all the same drills, we do all the same workouts together, so that kind of helps make it more close-knit.”

Not only for the pitching staff but for any student athlete, committing to a team while also maintaining solid grades doesn’t come easily.

“It’s definitely a struggle and it’s definitely hard because of time management.” Mullins said. “You have practice every day so you have to really balance it out, and if you have a lot of work for classes you have to be able to get that done after you go home even on days when you’d don’t really feel like it.”

When senior pitcher Peyton Bishop is mistaken for a dumb athlete, he goes about it in his own way.

“I like to just go about my business,” Bishop said. “I think maybe some people when they figure out that me or someone else is an athlete and smart they’re like, ’Oh wow, that’s pretty cool.’”

Mullins can also take this negative, and in many cases false stereotype and turn it into something to be proud of.

“I think it can be taken in a positive way and you can take pride that you’re not one of those dumb athletes,” Mullins said. “You can takepride in actually trying in school and just proving that you are intelligent, so you can flip it around and make it a positive thing.”

Some of the pitchers have seen athletes who strongly believe they’ll make it to the pro’s one day, so they don’t try hard in school. While this is a great dream to have, Mullins and Bishop believe that students should try hard in both, so that they can have school to back them up if all else fails.

“I think people should always strive to be their best,” Bishop said. “And especially in the classroom because eventually you’re going to hang up that jersey whether you want to or not and your education can take you far, so people should always try in the classroom.”