DREW REPP
Staff Writer
During his tenure as head coach for women’s soccer, Head Coach Tim Ward has led the program to a .669 winner percentage with a record of 75-34-12. But his interests go beyond just athletics.
Ward is also an accomplished musician who is a guitarist and singer for the contemporary folk-rock group Your Moose, according to pepperdinesports.com.
And it is not uncommon for junior water polo player Matt Hahn to help lead worship at the Tuesday night UM service, and then helping his team to a victory the next day.
Hahn is the bassist for the worship team and a sophomore guard on the men’s water polo team, which recently finished the season ranked seventh in the nation.
Student athletes and coaches are starting to raise the question as to whether or not traits learned outside of sport can cross over to athletics and help performance. Could the development of mind and soul of the athlete be as influential as the development of the body?
“Both require a great deal of concentration and focus,” Ward said. “Especially with the more difficult techniques.”
Hahn agrees that it takes time to develop skills in both fields.
“I have been playing music for 11 years, started with the flute in fifth grade,” Hahn said. “And I have been involved with water polo for seven years.”
As their musical skills are improving, so are their athletic skills.
“I would have to say that as I was developing musically I was also developing athletically, but I never have correlated one with the other,” Hahn said.
Athletes are starting to recognize connections between the time and dedication it takes to be successful in music are the same as in sports.
“The time it took me to become a musician is likely comparable to the time it took me to become a successful athlete,” said junior Peter McNeilly. “Both activities take practice and a similar mentality.” McNeilly has also been a member of Pepperdine’s club lacrosse team.
Hahn echoed those sentiments.
“The number of hours to be successful at both playing music and playing a sport are very similar, putting in at least a couple of hours a day,” Hahn said.
Junior cross country runner Chad Trammell, who as a sophomore earned honorable-mention honors and was named to the WCC fall academic team, has now been playing guitar for three years. As he continues to run well, and get better at guitar, Trammell has recognized the necessity of making time for both.
“Being able to focus 100 percent on your activity is very difficult and is important for both running and music,” Trammell said. “Some traits are very beneficial in both. Patience and persistence are vital to improvement in both, as is technique.”
Perfection of such techniques is where junior Jeff Hall sees the greatest link between sports and music.
“To be a great athlete it takes more than just playing the game,” said Hall who after a successful high school career in both football and baseball, picked up guitar once he came to Pepperdine. “You have to dissect the game and study its components. An athlete then dedicates himself to a particular component of the game until he has mastered it.
“I think the strongest connection between music and sports is the necessity for drills,” he added.
Since his days as a high-school athlete, Hahn has looked back and also seen the interplay between sports and music.
“What I have noticed is that most of the people that played instruments throughout elementary school and junior high school were also those that chose to participate in athletics in high school,” Hahn said.
However, Hahn and others are quick to make clear that skills to be good in both sports and music are different.
“I still believe that my skills for playing music are much different than my skills with athletics,” Hahn said. “They require very different movements and motor skills. Each needs to be equally practiced to improve.”
Trammell agreed.
“I’ve put forth much more effort towards running personally, but I think the effort required to make it to the top in each activity would be comparable,” Trammell said.
Some scholars would also argue that a link between sports and music exist. “The rhythmical qualities of music also emulate patterns of physical skill; therefore, music can enhance the acquisition of motor skill and create a better learning environment,” said Dr. C.I. Karageorhis, an accredited sport and exercise psychologist from Brunel University in England, in The Sport Journal.
A learning environment seemed to be one of the pluses that Hall noticed in music and sports.
“Playing a musical instrument has required the same attitude for perfection,” Hall said. “In order to get better I have been forced to analyze my abilities, set goals and work towards particular skills that will better my total ability.”
These character traits and motivational skills are what the athletes seem to be stressing as the main correlation.
“In a sense, I do believe that being a part of an orchestra helped with our abilities to focus, practice and have dedication — the same needed in athletics,” Hahn said. “And yes, those that were part of music were much better on the sports teams than those I knew that didn’t do any music before doing athletics.”
But doing both could create a problem. Athletics is already criticized for being too time consuming. Dedicating additional time and pressure to perform musically could be an added stress for both high school and college athletes.
This was the issue for McNeilly who has been playing guitar since the 6th grade and played lacrosse in high school.
“I feel like I was always having to focus more on one at a any given time,” McNeilly said. “For instance, there would be shows that I wanted to play, but they would correspond with important games. I always had a choice to make. I could balance them at times, but I was not improving in both areas at the same time.”
Trammell aggress that it’s difficult to balance both activities.
“It’s sort of an inverse relationship because often to spend time on one I have to take away from the other,” Trammell said.
The whole idea of a connection between music and sports is still up for debate.
“After these questions I realize that the kids that were active in the school outside of regular school activities performed very well in athletics,” Hahn said.
McNeilly says it’s all about the challenge in both fields.
“You’ve got to challenge yourself in music and sports to become good. The key is also to do each a lot,” McNeilly said.
Maybe athletes should pick up instruments to keep their mind prepared for competition on the playing field.
“Music is an often untapped source of both motivation and inspiration for sport,” Karageorhis said.
02-03-2005
