The 2010 Hope College volleyball team has received the Team Academic Award from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)
The award, initiated in 1992-93, honors teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale. The Flying Dutch, coached by Becky Schmidt, maintained an amazing 3.627 cumulative team GPA during the 2009-10 school year.
The team was also named to the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Team Academic Honor Roll with the third best GPA among all of the conference teams (women and men) across 18 league-sponsored sports.
"Teams do not succeed in the classroom by accident any more so than they do on the court," said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "The same coach who taught them volleyball skills cared enough about their academic achievement to gather their grades, calculate their GPA, and submit a nomination on their behalf. In doing so, these coaches sent a clear messagethat classroom success is just as important as court success.All involved should celebrate this award."
The Flying Dutch were co-champions of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and competed in the NCAA Division III national championship tournament.