4.0 ATHLETE’S SECRET TO SUCCESS
Upon opening the door to the gym, you’ll find three pictures hanging on the wall to represent SCC’s student athletes with the highest individual GPAs.
Qin “Kim” Wang, is one of these athletes.
Wang is an international student at SCC, and she is one of the three student women athletes with a perfect GPA of 4.0, which she has managed to keep up even while competing in her sport of choice: volleyball.
“Ever since I was a kid, I have always been looking up to a famous woman volleyball athlete, Ping Lang, who is currently the main coach of (the) Chinese women’s volleyball team,” she said.
Lang was an Olympic MVP when she was in her 20s. Wang said she was amazed by Lang’s achievement as a volleyball player. Wang said, “Teamwork and never giving up” were two important lessons she learned from Lang.
At 19 years old, Wang enrolled as a student at SCC in fall 2017. She came from Beijing, China, and chose to continue her path as an athletic student.
“I got involved in volleyball during a summer camp in junior high school and my passion never diminished,” Wang said.
During her time at school in Beijing, she had been on the school volleyball team for six years.
She said she didn’t think about getting one of the top three spots and it was just a coincidence that all three of them got the perfect GPA.
Wang said the key to her perfect grade is managing her time between volleyball and her schoolwork. It’s all about scheduling the classes, according to her. For example, morning classes fit Wang’s schedule because she is able to finish her assignments before she starts her training.
This way she said she doesn’t need to procrastinate doing her homework, plus she can keep her healthy sleeping schedule.
Since volleyball games have occasionally overlapped with lecture times, she makes time to go to several professors’ office hours to ask about what was covered during lectures she missed.
“I tried my best to complete both academic work and training on time,” Wang said.
Back in fall quarter, she spent most of her time in the gym, practicing with her teammates. She said her teammates made her training the best activity of the day.
It made her easily like the training and the sweat that resulted from each practice, and it was the best tool to cheer her up whenever she felt tired.
The best training method for Wang was to simulate the actual games.
“It’s just like the real game, anything could happen, because you don’t know when the ball will come to you,” Wang said. She said this method also allows her to train her focus and attention fully to the game.
Wang’s best friend Mina-Yuen Lee described Wang as a very competitive person.
“She will be very upset if she doesn’t get the result she wants, and will try harder next time,” Lee said.
Wang currently isn’t in training, since volleyball season is in the fall. But regardless of the season, she always does her own workout routine while waiting to be back in training.
For her, success in anything is achieved if she is “having fun and being satisfied with the final result,” she said. Her coach and friends used to say “have fun” before each game started and she said this gave her more confidence.
“It doesn’t matter whether you win or not. As long as you’ve done your best, you are successful,” she said.
By Davira Shaffena,
Ad Manager
Photo by Aditya Wiputra
