 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ex-UK athletes honored at formal sports ceremony Jamie H. Vaught Cats Up Close Columnist What do ex-UK athletes Taylor Begley and Meghan Cooper have in common? They both were honored at a formal sports ceremony< popularly known as Catspy Awards in academics, receiving the UK Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors. In other words, they were the big stars in the classroom, maintaining their high grade-point average while excelling in their respective sport. Begley, who is from Danville, Ky., is a record-breaking place-kicker who finished his collegiate eligibility last fall while working on his master's degree in electrical engineering. Cooper, on the other hand, is from Golden, Colo., and has just completed her softball career at UK. An infielder who started all of her team's 57 games this past season, the 5-7 Cooper batted .295, the third highest on the squad, as the Cats posted an overall record of 21-36. Cooper All-District IV first team and is automatically nominated to the Academic All-America ballot after being plunked a team-high 16 times. Asked how she found the time to study and make good grades while playing softball, Cooper replied, "It definitely can be hard sometimes (to do both). There are days you feel like there aren't enough hours to get everything done. However, I have found out over the last few years that when I did have more time, I seemed to procrastinate more. "So, for me, being on a tight schedule worked to my advantage. The best way to handle school and softball was just setting priorities. The school work had to be done and sometimes that meant sacrificing other things." Interestingly, Cooper already had graduated last spring (2005) with a degree in history. "I redshirted my sophomore year so I had a fifth year of eligibility to play softball," explained Cooper. "I didn't want to miss my last year of playing. So, the classes I took this year are helping me get into graduate school. Since I already had my degree, the only way I could stay eligible was to declare a second major and work towards that." Begley, one of the three Wildcat football players who were elected to the Academic All-America Team (sponsored by ESPN The Magazine and voted on by the College Sports Information Directors of America), said he has already finished his course work in the graduate school. "I will be done when my thesis is completed probably in December," said Begley, who this summer plans to work on his research and stay in shape Just in case there is a pro football opportunity). "If they (NFL) want me, I'll be ready." A graduate with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering (with a 3.82 GPA), Begley nearly didn't make it in a regular classroom when he was a small child because he had a disability. "I have terrible vision and when I was young doctor told my parents I would probably have to go a school for visually-impaired and probably would never drive a car," recalled Begley. "Thank God they were wrong about that!" On balancing time between academics and football, Begley said time management is very important. "You have to have discipline and priorities, and stick with them, knowing there is a time for fun and work and making sure to always stay ahead of the game in the classroom," he said. "As busy as we are, once you start to get behind in classes, it can become a downward spiral quickly." Begley said the most memorable game of his UK football career took place in his very first contest as a Wildcat in 2002. He made three of four field goals, including what proved to be the eventual game-winner of Kentucky's 22-17 upset of the 17th-ranked U of L. For that performance, Begley was named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week. Before coming to Kentucky in 2001 on a football scholarship, Begley, a first-team all-state place-kicker at Boyle County High School, had been asked to walk on at Mississippi State and South Carolina. While Begley hits the books for research in the upcoming months with an eye toward NFL, Cooper is excited about her summer plans. "I am a nanny for a great family back at home in Colorado," said Cooper, who admits that she doesn't really ski despite her home state's snowy mountains. "I'm going to graduate school to be a teacher so being around kids every day is perfect for me. Plus, they are two boys that love to play baseball. So, I'm all-time pitcher in our daily games and they think I'm pretty cool because I'm the only girl in the neighborhood who can throw." Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of four books about UK basketball. He is currently a professor at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro and can be reached by e-mail at CatsUpClose@yahoo.com. Add a comment |
|
|
@ 2005 The Wayne County Outlook For more information, see our online Privacy Policy. |