By Adam Otstot
I am a proud William and Mary Alum ('04, '07). As a high school senior, one of my most vivid memories was sitting down at my desk in the spring with two acceptance letters: one from the University of Virginia, and the other from the College of William and Mary. I had two successful visits, and I could envision a promising future with either choice. The College's overall size, clear undergraduate teaching focus, and location were huge selling points, but the one thing that made the decision for me was an opportunity to run Division I Cross Country and Track and Field. At the time, my athletic accomplishments were solid, but nothing that would have caught the eye of a Division I coach. Coach Gerard at W&M was open to letting me walk-on, and it was that opportunity that elevated W&M as THE school for me. I became part of the Tribe Family, and it was the best decision I could have made.
In my time at William and Mary, I was involved in several extracurricular activities. In addition to being a student-athlete, I was a four-year member of I.T., the improvisation theatre campus group, and I participated regularly in the Wesley Foundation. While each activity provided learning experiences and growth opportunities, it was my time running that had the most profound impact on my life. I quickly found that I thrived in the environment. By my junior year, I earned the chance to represent W&M as we finished 14th in the NCAA Cross Country Championships. On the track I found similar success, earning All-Conference accolades all four years and capping off my career as the 2003 Scholar Athlete of the Year in Cross County and as the CAA Champion in the 3000m Steeplechase. To be competitive on the conference, regional, and national stages required consistent training and racing, and my development as an athlete was aided in large part by the three season structure of cross country, indoor, and outdoor track. Without that consistent application of stress I may have realized success within the team, but I would have been at a huge disadvantage when competing against other schools, along with the rest of my teammates.
My growth was not limited to physical feats and the lifelong camaraderie that was forged between me and my teammates; as a Kinesiology major, I was able to use what I learned on the track and apply those lessons in the classroom. I became fanatical about exploring the limits of my body and finding the science behind why those limits exist and how I could get closer to them. It was the most exhilarating exercise in authentic learning I could have ever dreamt of.
My experiences as a student-athlete at William and Mary thoroughly prepared me for my post-collegiate careers as a health and physical education teacher, a professional triathlete, a high performance coach, and currently, as a health and physical education curriculum specialist.
I am urging for a serious and thorough reconsideration of the decision to discontinue men's track and field, one of William and Mary’s most successful athletic programs, as announced on Thursday, September 3rd, 2020. I experienced firsthand how powerful this program is to the current and future life of a William and Mary student, and I sincerely hope that a solution can be found to allow future students to feel its impact as well.
Save the Tribe 7 Save Tribe Track & Field William & Mary Tribe Athletics
https://savetribetrack.wixsite.com
https://www.change.org/p/william-mary-save-william-mary-athletics
So many of your sentiments could have been written by my own son, a varsity swimmer in the class of 2020. He is an Olympic Trials qualifier, who would have proudly represented the Tribe at the rescheduled meet this coming June 2021. I wish the school continued to value the experience provided to the many student-athletes, more than the pursuit of the holy grail of national prominence in football and basketball. They just eliminated 118 of these opportunities in large part to improve the athlete "experience", defined by athlete/support staff ratios. When looking back on the the lifelong impact that the W&M student athlete experience had on you, I doubt you think of ratios.
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