ODU Student-Athletes "Account" for Off-Field Success, Too
In between practices, competitions and homework, you’d think that Ohio Dominican student-athletes Rachel Billing (basketball, volleyball), Mari Monaco (tennis) and Josh Wolfe (golf) would look forward to some down time.
That, however, is not the case.
Recently, the trio took part in nationwide accounting projects, with Billing and Monaco helping their four-member team to a third-place finish in the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) Accounting Competition, and Wolfe captaining his team to victory in the Fourth Annual AGA (Association of Government Accountants) Case Challenge.
Billing and Monaco’s team – “The Green Assets” – was tasked to create sustainability ideas for a five-star hotel, while Wolfe’s team took a 60-page Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and condensed it to four pages, called a Citizen Centric Report.
On their way to the top – which included a trip to New York City for Billing and Monaco and a stay in Washington D.C. for Wolfe – the ODU students outperformed competitors from larger schools such as Miami (Ohio), Michigan and North Carolina.
“When we registered, it showed a list of the other schools and we saw those huge schools,” said Monaco, a junior from Port Clinton, Ohio. “We didn’t know what type of products they were going to turn in. But it showed that just because it’s a big school doesn’t necessarily mean that they can do everything we can’t.”
Adding the workload of completing these projects to the balancing act required between their academic and athletic calendars was a bit challenging, but, as Wolfe put it, “You have to get out of the procrastination mode and get your work done early so you don’t have to worry about it when you go to a tournament or event.”
“All of our accounting classes are late in the day and that
affects practice time,” added Billing, a junior from Anna,
Ohio. “I have to get up early to get homework done because
otherwise I can’t finish it. You don’t have time for it
after class, practice or the game.”
Each cited different aspects of their experiences in athletics that helped contribute to their groups’ success. For Monaco, it was the time management and discipline that was instilled in her “playing sports back in elementary school.” Billing noted how the cooperation and teamwork skills that she learned as an athlete played a role in their group work, particularly in the video that the team filmed as part of the competition. Wolfe, a senior from Galion, Ohio, referred to the leadership traits that he’s picked up over the years, although, he said with a laugh, “I just tricked enough people in my class to vote me as a captain.”
Furthermore, all praised their coaches’ understanding for having to miss practice time – and, in Billing’s case, a pair of games – for travel to take part in the competitions. The one surprising aspect, however, was their nerves in presenting before a large group, even though their teams often play in front of larger crowds and galleries dozens of times per year.
“Presenting in front of 75 people, I’ve never done that before,” Billing said. “It’s different playing in front of people. You don’t usually have those nerves for a game.”
“Because,” as Monaco said, “you don’t have those bigwigs looking at you with their pens and papers, taking notes.”
Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu
