University of Virginia Library

SAC President Urges
Athletic Participation

To all First-yearmen:

The Student Athletic
Council is the organization at
the University which consists
of all captains of varsity sports.
In addition to our individual
obligations and contributions
to our own teams we, as a
council, have two main duties.
We approve and make
recommendations for varsity
letters and act as an advisory
board to the Director of Athletics
and the Student Body. It is,
therefore, our purpose in this letter
to acquaint you with, and stimulate
your interests in, varsity athletics at
Virginia.

It is our belief that certain
misconceptions concerning college
athletics cause many fine high
school and prep school athletes to
hesitate trying out for a college
team. A common misbelief is that
the college "jock" is overdeveloped
physically, underdeveloped
mentally, and completely out of
the mainstream of college life. We,
at Virginia, find this far from the
norm. We take pride in the fact that
our athletes are the leaders in many
areas of college life including
academic achievement. Another
prevailing fallacy is that
participation in college athletics
will result in lower grades. In
general, we find that playing on a
college team has had beneficial
effects on our studies. The fact that
we have practice each day forces us
to better plan our time and thus set
aside certain periods for studying.
Also we feel that after a good
physical workout we are better
mentally prepared to attack our
studies and use our time to the best
advantage. In emphasizing this
point, a quotation from our
founder, Mr. Jefferson, seems quite
appropriate. "Exercise and
recreation are as necessary as
reading. I will say rather more
necessary because health is worth
more than learning."

We hope that this letter has
persuaded many athletes who were
undecided, to try out for a varsity
team. Also, those who gave it little
thought, we trust, will become
interested enough to inquire. A list
of all the captains appears below;
we encourage you to contact them
if you have any questions about
varsity sports at the University.

Richard Morris, President
Student Athletic Council

Fall Sports: football—Andy
Selfridge, Gary Helman;
Soccer Jay Ziehl, Jay Connor,
Ed Marks; Cross
Country Mike DeCamps, Brew
Barron.

Winter sports: basketball—Scott
McCandish, Frank DeWitt;
wrestling — John Pitas;
swimming—not named.

Spring sports: baseball—Robbin
Marvin; lacrosse— Jay Connor,
Bobby Proutt; track—Brew Barron,
Richard Morris; tennis— Joe Zang;
gold—Brit Stenson.

Please feel free to contact any of
the above captains during school.
Their numbers and addresses may
be obtained through Student
Information Service or Head
Coach.