If somebody is keeping score, Sheaffer Skadsen wants to win.
What is true on the soccer field is also true in the classroom — and the Pacific-12 Conference noticed.
The University of Arizona senior defender garnered Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 recognition for her prowess on the field.
Two days later, the Skyview High School graduate with a 4.0 grade point average in her public health major — and her eye on dental school after graduation — was named this year’s Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women’s soccer.
“I think it just has to do with how competitive I am,” Skadsen said. “I’m competitive in everything I do, and school is just another means of that.
“In sixth grade, they started to give out letter grades — As and A-minusus and Bs, etc. — and I just made it a goal then: I don’t want to get a B. I only want As. I’ve done that. I’ve never gotten a final grade under an A-minus.”
Although academic excellence has mattered to Skadsen for a decade, the prestigious conference honor was not on her radar.
“I knew that it existed, but I didn’t think about it, to tell you the truth,” she said. “When I read (the announcement on the Pac-12 website), I was like, ‘Wow, this is really cool.’ As it sunk in, I was like, ‘Wow, this is really, really cool.’ ”
Really, really cool because the honor is bestowed on only one student-athlete in each of the Pac-12’s 23 sponsored sports.
Each university fielding teams in a given sport nominates one team member for consideration by a committee of conference staff members.
Nominees must be a senior in athletic eligibility with a GPA of at least 3.0 and on track to earn a degree while participating in at least 50 percent of the team’s competitions. Athletic accomplishments are a consideration in voting.
Skadsen is Arizona’s first recipient of the women’s soccer award in the program, which was launched in 2008.
“I’m really excited to be able to put that on my dental school applications,” she said.
On track to graduate in December 2016, Skadsen is a three-time first team Pac-12 All-Academic honoree and a two-time first team Academic All-District selection by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for its District 8 covering Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Canada. This week, she was named First Team Academic All-America by CoSIDA.
Meanwhile, the center back has logged the most playing time of any Arizona field player for the past two seasons with starts in 60 of the team’s last 61 matches — missing one last year to attend her sister’s wedding.
Managing time
Time management is a challenge for every college student, let alone those with the time commitments involved in competing in intercollegiate athletics.
Arizona’s season — and Skadsen’s collegiate career — ended Saturday with a loss at Stanford in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Women’s College Cup. That trip, as an example, involved three days of missing classes. The Wildcats left Tucson, Ariz., on Wednesday for the two rounds at Palo Alto, Calif. Arizona defeated Santa Clara on Thursday.
“It’s 50 percent how you schedule your classes, and 50 percent time management,” Skadsen said. “It’s making up what you missed and having good relationships with your professors so you can discuss what you missed and make sure that you have an opportunity to make it up when we’re gone.”
Many elements of missing class can be compensated for, Skadsen said, but some cannot — and the biggest challenge for a student-athlete is the effort it requires to stay on top of class material.
“It’s one thing to be able to read the assignments or get the assignments, but it’s another to be able to get the directions directly from the mouth of the professor and be in the interactive learning of the classroom,” she said. “We miss out on a lot of that being on the road, and that makes it a little more difficult, but scheduling office hours and making friends in the class to get notes from have helped a lot.”
Staying focused
In addition to the demands on her time as a student and an athlete, another factor in Skadsen’s life is the fact that she lives with Type 1 diabetes. Managing her diabetes plays into her organizational skills.
“My personality is to be very organized,” she said. “I’m very planned and organized, and diabetes falls under that, too. It’s just another thing that I have to deal with, and it really keeps me on track.”
While being a student-athlete puts significant demands on Skadsen’s time, it has the benefit of keeping her focused on what she must accomplish during a given day.
“It does take up a lot of time for me, but it also forces me to organize my time really well,” she said. “I noticed over the summer when I’m not playing soccer and working out and getting ready for the season, the day goes by so quick and I maybe didn’t get done what I wanted to or needed to do that day because nothing forced me to be up early at this time and get going or anything that forced me to schedule my time.
“I’m definitely going to miss that. It provides structure to my days, and I thrive on structure and having organized coherent plans and things like that. Without soccer, I’m definitely going to have to find something to help me fill that gap.”
Soccer success
Skadsen described her collegiate soccer career as “the best experience of my entire life” as the Wildcats have been building in success each season.
Arizona was 6-11-3 (2-7-2 Pac-12) when Skadsen was a freshman forward getting little playing time. After she was converted to the back line as a sophomore, the Wildcats posted seasons of 9-7-4 (4-6-1) in 2013 and 11-8-2 (4-6-1) last year before this season’s 14-6-2 (6-4-1) mark.
The Wildcats advanced to the second round of the NCAA Women’s College Cup in 2014 and to the third round this season.
During the team’s Friday break between matches in Palo Alto, Skadsen said that the conclusion of her senior season might be enough soccer in her life for a little while — for a couple of reasons.
“I think that once I’m done collegiately, I will need a break just to re-gather myself a little bit,” she said. “I’ve never really had life without soccer that I can remember, so I think it will be a good opportunity for me to find myself a little bit more and get an opportunity to relax a little. Honestly, I think I would be way too competitive playing in an adult league at this point. It would probably not be very fun.”
