Track teams integrate classroom, training in Barbados- Summer 2007 Wartburg Magazine - Wartburg College

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Classroom + Athletics = Tropical Adventure by Mark Adkins

Coach Marcus Newsom wanted more than a training trip for his 2006-07 Wartburg men’s and women’s track and field teams.

With help from Dr. Joyce Boss of the Global and Multicultural Studies program, an idea took shape.

“College isn’t just about the athletic experience,” Newsom said. “I wanted our athletes to dig into some history and cultural study of the Caribbean when we decided to take our trip to Barbados in December.

“I see it as a tremendous experience,” he added. “They all got a different look at the culture, due to what Dr. Boss had them work on.”

In January, members of the Wartburg men’s and women’s track and field teams took advantage of a unique opportunity to train for the 2006-07 indoor and outdoor seasons and gain classroom experience through Global and Multicultural Studies. The team competed against Barbados’ top athletes in an open meet in the country’s only international athletic stadium (above) in the capital city of Bridgetown.

A group of 16 track and field athletes studied different elements of the culture of Barbados and the Caribbean on site while training for the 2007 competition season. The classroom portion was a Winter Term course for participants.

Boss taught the course and broke the students up into project groups. As part of the class, each group delivered a presentation on their topics.

“This was a very successful venture,” she said. “I credit Marcus for wanting this trip to be something more than just a competition. He did all of the legwork through the travel agency, setting up two lecture speakers for the students. He really wanted them to learn the culture and history of where they were going to be.

Newsom and Boss want to see the course continue, Boss added. “I think there may be an even larger opportunity for athletic teams on campus to integrate academics with their sports on these types of trips. I’m excited to see what comes out of this on that type of bigger picture.”

John Kuckelman ’09 of Keokuk, Iowa, majors in political science and saw the experience as a way to put his studies into practice.

“I didn’t realize that Barbados and the United States had so many similarities in their governmental election process or in (how) the governments run the respective countries,” he said. “Our group, studying those similarities, got into some really cool trivia, especially on George Washington. It seems that our first president set up a hybrid of how he wanted our government to run on a trip to the islands before he became our leader.”

Hannah Baker ’10 of Keota, Iowa, and her trip study group learned about the different foods and nutritional values in Barbados.

Coach Quote “You’ve got to like your food spicy down there,” she said. “All of us on the trip really enjoyed sampling the different dishes, but there is a lot of heat to it. I think the entire group fell in love with the ‘flying fish’ dish.”

Rachel Brincks ’07 of Carroll, Iowa, and her group studied the effects of the sugar cane industry relationship between Barbados and the United States.

During a snorkeling excursion, Kelsea Cannon ’07, Osceola, Iowa, snapped this close-up of a sea turtle.

“We also got a look at the tourism industry and how important it is to Barbados,” she said. “They really sell this area as a warm weather resort stop for tourists around the world. However, if you look beyond those resorts on the coast, it is rather depressed for the majority of the locals. Our group found out that a little bit of the reason for that is because the (United States) doesn’t use the country’s sugar cane crop as its chief method for obtaining sugar anymore, due to Hawaii’s ability to grow it.”

Beyond the academic portion of the trip, the athletes got a firsthand look at gifted Caribbean competitors.

“These were 16-, 17-, 18 year-old athletes we were competing against, but they were really good,” Baker said. Kuckelman appreciated some training time in a warm climate, prior to the indoor and outdoor seasons. “The meet we competed in wasn’t high pressure,” he said. “We had to get used to island time, which means starting later than scheduled, and competing against anybody that wanted to show up. It was, all in all, a lot of fun.”

All participants appreciated this glimpse into another culture.

“The competition and training part of it was good, but I still can’t get over the different cultural things I saw,” Brincks said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”