ZOOM INTERVIEW

LONGVIEW – To play or not to play?

That's the question many spring sports student-athletes have been weighing after the NCAA granted the option for who would have otherwise exhausted their eligibility in the spring to return for another season. At LeTourneau University, student-athletes from eight sports have had to make that difficult decision. Difficult because at the NCAA Division III level, student-athletes do not receive athletic scholarships.

So while there are many variables that determine a student-athlete's decision to return or not return, it's the age-old adage whether the love of the game is something still worth pursuing when life may be pulling you in different directions?

"One thing that's stuck with me through all of this is how much of a testament this is to our love of the sport," LETU women's track athlete Alexis Segura said. "Whether or not we do decide to come back, it is a big decision. I think it's caused all of us as athletes to look inside and say, 'This is part of who I am. This is something that I love.'"

That's just it. How much of the decision is based on the passion a student-athlete has for the sport, regardless of other opportunities in life? For YellowJacket men's golfer Cory Gillespie, who debated moving on with his life by playing in tournaments where he could make money and start a professional life outside of college athletics, he does recognize the life of a college athlete has its advantages. Especially in today's state of uncertainty.

"Once I started looking into it, and realized how much I was missing as a team …" Gillespie began, "on the mini tour events, you don't know what's going to happen, what tournaments are going to go on. I just knew the NCAA was going to do their best to make sure that we were going to be able to play."

For a college athlete, being able to play carries a lot of weight. College athletes do not get paid. And at the NCAA Division III level, they have to pay to play, so to speak, what with no athletic scholarships offered. So for some, returning when it means opening up the checkbook again, the driving force to compete has to be, front and center, one of the primary impetuses to take the NCAA up on its offer to obtain another season of eligibility after half of it was already burned.

Men's track and field athlete Arvin Hrushka, a decathlete originally from Germany who has citizenship in The Netherlands, yet is spending his summer in Colorado Springs, had to sit out the fall semester just to return in the spring. When his outdoor season was cut short as soon as it was set to begin, the emptiness of not having competed left him searching for answers.

"It was definitely hurtful news when I found out the track season was over," Hrushka said. "I'm definitely coming back next year in 20-21, and that wasn't too much of a decision. Originally, I was weighing two different schools. There's a school here in Colorado Springs or there in Longview, Texas. It wasn't a really tough decision for me. Of course, moving on with your life enters my mind. A lot of people that are as old as me are getting jobs and moving on. You're sacrificing a lot, getting on with a career, settling down and staying uprooted kind of, but all in all, I kind of knew what I was going to do the whole time, which is come back to LeTourneau."

Women's tennis player Maddison Brackenreg, a native of Australia, started her career at a Division I school. She climbed to the top of the singles and doubles lists at LETU in three years, and was possibly headed for her best individual singles season when it all came to a screeching halt. As one who openly expressed how much she felt like everything had been ripped away this spring, the decision to return to LETU was far more complex. For one, she lives in Australia.

"Just the news that we could come back, I guess it didn't really affect me much because I knew that I've done everything that I needed to do at LeTourneau already," Brackenreg said. "To be completely honest, if I were to use the eligibility, I'd use it somewhere where I wouldn't have to pay for tuition. I'd transfer somewhere else, and just use that for tennis."

That's one of the elements the NCAA may have overlooked when it made the decision to allow spring sports student-athletes to return for another season. A coach at a school where athletic scholarships are awarded pointed that out, adding that some of the better college athletes in his sport were exercising the NCAA option, but using it to transfer to bigger schools.

A three-sport athlete, Segura, who thought she was wrapping up her college career in track and field in the spring, envisioned her career as a YellowJacket ending at an NCAA Championship meet this spring. She planned to parlay that senior sendoff into a graduate assistant role as a coach. Of course, the virus added a complex wrinkle to those plans now.

"Getting the season canceled, especially when we were just getting into outdoor, was pretty devastating for me," Segura said. "As of now, I'm planning on coming back in the spring semester to compete in track and field. I was looking at a GA position. It's a lot of juggling around right now, figuring out how many jobs I have to get."

At the same time, she enjoys lacing up the sneakers and running.

"Absolutely," she said. "I've been going stir crazy, not being able to get a competition in. I can't wait to race again."

For Brackenreg, while the idea of competing as a college athlete may have run its course in her life, giving up tennis has not.

"I definitely have career goals, like anyone else, but I don't think I'm done quite yet with tennis," she said. "I think there's still a few things I need to at least try, so I know I won't regret it."

For many, taking advantage of that NCAA option to return for another season is quite possibly the regret-or-not-regret decision of their life, especially for Division III student-athletes at schools such as LeTourneau. Gillespie doesn't want any regrets.

"It kind of came down to what makes me happiest," he said. "At the time, I was talking to a lot of people that knew me personally, and they all said, 'A lot of people wish they could go back and keep playing just at the NCAA level.' I don't know with those mini tours what's going to happen. Not a lot has opened up yet. So I could just stay the fall semester and play with my teammates. It's more of a deal of what's making me happy. I am pretty happy with my choice. I'm probably at one of the happiest parts of my life right now."

Nothing makes an athlete happier than having the opportunity to compete. So what the NCAA and schools like LeTourneau have done for spring sports senior student-athletes is open the door to a second chance. No matter what level a student-athlete is competing at, the competitive juices will flow, and those who return will discover that all over again in 2020-21.

"I think there's huge misconceptions when you look at the divisions in NCAA," said Brackenreg, who began her career at Division I Alcorn State on a full scholarship. "I played at my DI, and it was a high level. I played at big schools. It was just a bigger stage for it. But you also have things that they didn't take into account, like our academics weren't really valued as much. It was kind of like, 'Go to class if you want, but tennis is more important.'

"You still get those competitive matches in DIII with girls that could easily play DI tennis. So the competition was still there for me, which I loved. It just gave me the opportunity to really grow, and take that opportunity to want to be better."

Gillespie concurs.

"I need a LeTourneau degree," he said. "I knew the importance of having a LeTourneau degree. I guarantee I'll practice just as much at LeTourneau, and I'll play just as much at LeTourneau, maybe even more. For me, I came to LeTourneau, and I'm going to stay until I get that bachelor's degree at least because I know how important that bachelor's degree is."

For athletes considering options to compete, look no further than Segura's case. She was afforded the opportunity to compete in three sports at LeTourneau, all the while pursuing two degrees. In fact, she even wrestled with the idea of not returning for her fourth year of eligibility after obtaining her bachelor's degree in three years. Ultimately, LETU gave her too much to turn down. Now she has another season to compete should she take the NCAA up on its offer.

"I had to take the opportunity when I saw it," she said of signing with the YellowJackets. "LeTourneau's been incredible the last four years, helping me to be successful in all three of my sports. It was quite a journey. A LeTourneau degree helps a lot. I wouldn't change it for the world."

Which is why passing up on another season to compete may simply be too much to forgo for some spring sports student-athletes. At LeTourneau, it's an open door, and the YellowJackets are ready to welcome any of them back.

"I'm very grateful for it," said Hrushka, who's tinkering with the possibility of competing for two more seasons based on personal circumstances. "I really like the idea that I can come back for another semester without having to be too pressed in thinking this is the last chance I have to be able to compete in the NCAA."

For some, the thought of cleaning out the locker for good just doesn't sit well.

"Definitely as an international student, it changes things," Brackenreg said. "Probably if I was in the States, I would be more likely to take the opportunity, and use that. I think it's definitely an amazing thing that we're given the opportunity to take it if we want it because I know a lot of people aren't ready to be done with collegiate athletics."

Especially when you thought it might be over for good.

"It definitely brings a sense of peace, especially during these trying times," Segura said. "Being a student-athlete is such a big part of who I am."

Being a student-athlete is what the NCAA is all about. Especially at the Division III level at schools like LeTourneau.

"I think that was a good move on the NCAA's part," Gillespie said. "I was really happy they thought about the seniors at least. Honestly, there was a while there I didn't think they were even going to consider it. But my whole thought process is stay positive, stay healthy, but also, if you're going to be back in class in the fall anyways, you might as well be playing."

Some things are just too difficult to give up. At LeTourneau University, come the 2020-21 academic year, you can bet you'll see some of those same faces around, taking classes and competing in the sport they love.

"I'm happy and excited to be coming back," Hrushka said. "I can't wait to see what I can come and do next year."