There’s a challenge on the table at Lake Zurich, issued by the Bears’ girls basketball team to the boys team.
It’s not an on-the-court contest, but rather on the academic side.
Both teams were named Academic All-State squads by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association for the 2019-20 school year. The award is based on varsity players’ cumulative grade-point average through the first semester of the school year.
Lake Zurich girls basketball coach Chris Bennett has challenged boys coach Terry Coughlin in a GPA contest for next season. Success in the classroom has always been a focus for Lake Zurich athletes, according to athletic director Andy Lambert.
“We strive on a daily basis to use athletics as a vehicle to help our student-athletes excel academically,” Lambert said in an email. “I talk with our coaches all the time about how LZHS is an academic institution and our department’s values are built on placing academics before athletics.”
The boys basketball team had an unweighted GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. The Bears had the highest team GPA of any boys basketball team in IBCA Division 2, a geographic district that includes several Chicago-area counties.
“My philosophy on academics is rooted in my beliefs as a coach and that is that I’m an educator first, coach second,” Coughlin said in an email. “The way we run our program is that we are responsible for developing the entire student-athlete on and off the court.”
Coughlin mentioned that the team read “Legacy,” a book by James Kerr about the highly successful New Zealand All Blacks rugby team. The Bears had weekly check-ins on academic progress to stay connected and emphasize work in the classroom.
The Lake Zurich girls basketball team posted a 3.63 GPA, with every player having a B-plus average or better.
“It’s a great accomplishment, especially to have both teams qualify,” Bennett said in an email.
He added: “We count on our players to stay disciplined in their study habits and with their time management.”
The players on both teams are certainly on board with the philosophy.
“Good grades take time management and hard work, which can be helpful in season, while working to accomplish team goals,” said Alayna Soukup, the starting point guard who recently completed her sophomore year at Lake Zurich.
Soukup went on to identify academic excellence as an advantage on the court. Her strong thinking skills help her adapt to challenges during competition.
On the boys side, Will Tucker plans to study statistics and commerce at Virginia in the fall.
“Our team’s academic success speaks to our program as a whole,” Tucker said in an email. “All the way down to the freshman level.”
According to Tucker, the players want to excel in the classroom as part of their legacy at Lake Zurich. He hopes that legacy will remain in place “for years to come.”
Lambert said both basketball teams bring plenty of satisfaction to the athletic department.
“I can not begin to express the amount of pride I have for both of these programs and their accomplishments,” Lambert said.
Mark Perlman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press
