Student Athletes Cutsumpas and Callahan, on balancing school and sport

Think you are busy on a daily basis on campus? Think you have trouble juggling all the schoolwork with a social life? Then just imagine how tough it would be for student athletes. This week, I got to sit down with two of them to talk about how they balance their many commitments. If you’re an athlete, we’d love to hear more from you in the comments.

Nick Cutsumpas is a senior at Tufts University and has played on their baseball team since his freshman year. He rose through the ranks and persevered through injury to become one of the team’s leaders. He plays catcher and finds a way to also serve as a personal trainer, a resident assistant and the Vice President of the Tufts Class Council, in addition to being the director or president of multiple clubs and organizations on campus.

Photo courtesy of Cutsumpas’s Facebook page

Cutsumpas has made the Dean’s list in each of his six completed semesters and has accumulated a 3.75 overall GPA. He also finds time to give back to the community, serving as a tutor for Tufts’ Leonard Carmichael Society and a development intern for the Perseverance Foundation, an organization near and dear to the hearts of all Tufts baseball players.

“You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”- John Wooden #PersevereToday

— Perseverance Fdn (@Perseveretoday) September 6, 2013

Q: Describe the process by which you were brought to your current school to play baseball.

A: Phone calls and invites to campus. I went to a showcase and met a Tufts assistant coach there. We continued emailing and communicating all through senior year until I made my decision

Q: How was your first year playing?

A: Frustrating but incredible. I had to learn to be humble and play my role in the program, even if it wasn’t on the field right away. However, due to an injury I started the last 10 games of the season and into our playoff run.

Q: Were you ever in doubt of your skills or ability to compete on the team?

A: Never. They recruited me here because they thought I could compete at this level. That was all the confidence I needed. I just needed to work hard and follow the coaching if I wanted to get in the lineup.

Q: Talk about any adversities that come to mind when thinking about your college playing career.

A: In my sophomore year I tore my ACL, MCL, meniscus and broke part of my leg during a game of pickup basketball in October. I was devastated. This was supposed to be my breakout year and now it was gone. However, I worked my butt off in physical therapy and stayed relentlessly positive. I wasn’t going to let the injury define me, and I came back ready to play junior year.

Q: How hard has it been to balance all other aspects of your life in addition to your playing?

A: It is difficult—I’m not going to lie about that—especially if you are involved as I am. However, if you plan ahead, you can pretty much live the life of a regular student. For me, it is all about never sacrificing what I want most for what I want in the moment. This philosophy keeps me grounded.

Q: Looking back, what are you most proud of regarding your athletic career?

A: Our NESCAC [New England Small College Athletic Conference] championship my freshman year. It was incredible to be on the field as a contributing member of the team and it was by far the best team I’ve ever been a part of. Nobody cared who got the credit. We just had one goal, and that was to be the best team we could be.

Q: What drives you every day to keep at it?

A: Knowing that someone else might be working harder than me. Lack of effort is no excuse for not succeeding and reaching your goals. I’m definitely not the most talented athlete or player on the team, but if you let me outwork you then I’m going to find a way to win.

Michael Callahan is a senior at St. Leo University. An equally talented outfielder, pitcher and first baseman in high school, Callahan has made strides on his college team despite a tough stretch at the plate. He is known for his versatility and humor, even leading the team in their own version of the Harlem Shake (last year, back when it was still cool).

Photo courtesy of Callahan’s Facebook page, from FOX 13 News

The video itself now has over 400,000 views on Youtube, and Callahan can be seen with a fishing pole on the back of a tractor during the video. Beyond his antics, however, Callahan is also a never-say-die spirit in the clubhouse and on the field.

Q: Describe the process by which you were brought to your current school to play baseball.

A: My high school coach [Paul Herfurth] asked me if I would be interested in Saint Leo and I didn’t know anything about it. In the summer of my senior year I contacted the head coach of Saint Leo and asked him to come out and see me play in Fort Myers. He came out to watch me play and not long after that I was offered a scholarship. I took a campus visit in the fall and a few weeks later I accepted the scholarship.

Q: How was your first year playing?

A: Extremely frustrating. Coming from a program that I was on the field every inning to a program that was in a rebuilding phase and I was sitting at the end of the bench really bothered me. I was so frustrated with the game that I lost some of the love that had for it.

Q: Were you ever in doubt of your skills or ability to compete on the team?

A: My freshman year I fell into a six month long funk at the plate and it completely killed my confidence. I was an end of the bench guy and I didn’t know how to deal with that because I had never been in that situation. I felt like my time as a baseball player was coming to an end. Luckily, I was one of the best defensive first baseman in the conference so I saw time at the end of games as a defensive replacement.

Q: How hard has it been to balance all other aspects of your life in addition to your playing?

A: Time management is everything. During the spring we are playing 4-5 times a week and keeping up with school work is challenging. Every chance I get I have my face in the books trying to get as much work done as I can. Bus trips are not a time to sleep either. That’s a perfect time to get some work done.

Q: Now that you are a senior, what aspect of being a student-athlete has been most demanding?

A: The most demanding aspect of being a student-athlete is definitely maintaining a positive image. We are the face of the school in many ways and all eyes are on us. We are expected to be the best of the best, on and off of the field. We have to be extremely careful with any decision we make because if one of us messes up, it’s as if the entire team messed up.

Q: Looking back, what are you most proud of regarding your athletic career?

A: I am most proud of the teammate and person I have become based on the life lessons I have learned on the field. The game has taught me so much about life. I am proud of the places the game has taken me and the people this game has introduced me to.

Q: What drives you every day to keep at it.

A: I owe it to my teammates and I love the game so much. It has been my life for 16 years now, I don’t know any better.

Callahan also wished to add this quote: “Saint Leo University Baseball WILL WIN the Sunshine State Conference this year.”