College is a place where intellectual inquiries are often closely accompanied by a drinking culture. At a school where 27 percent of students fall into the category of student-athlete, it is inevitable that the drinking culture affects them as well. To combat this, many teams implement in-season drinking policies.
Following the student-athlete handbook, DePauw athletes are expected to follow all local, state and federal laws. Under this, student-athletes under the age of 21 years old are not allowed to consume alcohol and students-athletes over 21 are expected to consume in moderation. Likewise, anyone consuming alcohol while representing DePauw during team travel, practicing or competing is in violation of the student handbook.
In addition to the legal implications of consuming alcohol underage, alcohol also has physical effects that are detrimental to peak physical performance.
“We know that alcohol is a depressant and in the height of competition we want people to be stimulated,” Athletic Director Stevie Baker-Watson said. “So it will have a natural tendency to bring them down. We know that alcohol is a diuretic as well and could potentially dehydrate them. If someone has alcohol in their system, they are going to dehydrate at a higher rate. We also know that alcohol consumption will disturb sleep patterns.”
Due to the effects that alcohol has on athletic performance, many teams have drinking policies. According to Baker-Watson, coaches are in favor of the department’s policy, but they have different methodologies as to how they implement it. the drinking policy for each individual team is decided by the coach, players, or both. “So while there is not necessarily a study that says zero alcohol is the way to go, there is certainly enough side-effects of alcohol consumption that would lead you to believe that consuming alcohol while trying to perform at a high level is not going to result in positive effects for your body.”
Following the state law of Indiana that is outlined in the student-athlete handbook, the baseball team has a zero-tolerance policy for any player under the age of 21. “We spend a great deal of time speaking with our team about the negative effects alcohol has on development and performance,” head coach Blake Allen said. “We know that alcohol can have a negative effect in all aspects of their lives: socially, psychologically, athletically, and academically.”
On the softball team, the players meet with head coach Erica Hanrahan in a closed door meeting to determine their drinking policy, as well as, the consequences for any violations. According to Hanrahan, the first violation results in sitting out for the rest of the season. A player who commits a second offense within the same season, will be dismissed from the team. “Every year that I have been here, our team has voted for a dry season, either in entirety or with limited flexibility on birthdays,” Hanrahan said. “It is an extremely strict policy, and it's made entirely by the team themselves.”
Similar to the softball’s policy, the tennis coach expects all of his athletes to abstain from alcohol during the season, with the exception of 21 year olds in moderation. “I don't know if it would be considered strict or not,” head coach Scott Riggle said. “I certainly don't think that it's strict to expect athletes to fuel their bodies in productive ways, especially during the season. If an athlete breaks the rule, then I consider a number of factors in deciding what their consequence is.”
Being on a team is more than showing up to practice and games, according to Riggle, the commitment extends to what they fuel their body with. “I think [drinking policies are] important because to be a productive member of a team you have to commit to putting the right things in your body, behaving in the right way, and being a good representative of that team at all times, on and off the court,” Riggle said.
While drinking policies are in place on a vast majority of teams, student-athletes still have their fair-share of violations. “Our student athletes, certainly are representative in the entire student body in terms of their rate of consumption and perhaps the rate at which they are disciplined for their consumption,” Baker-Watson said. “But having access to numbers from the university and being in student academic life, there really hasn't been a time when athletics or student-athletes has been singled out as being more disciplined than the general student population on campus.”
Despite these violations, teams continue to set expectations for their athletes to follow. The lifestyle that is demanded from student-athletes sets them and their team up for competitive seasons. “We want to engage in a dialogue,” Baker-Watson said. “What we tend to see is that our teams who chose not to consume any alcohol during their championship season, tend to be more focused on winning that championship, and it’s a priority for them. That’s not to say that championships aren’t a priority for teams that consume during the season.
On a college campus, especially one that is littered with fraternities and known for its greek culture, abstaining from alcohol use is not always an easy task. Baker-Watson highlighted different teams’ commiting to prioritize their sport together, “it’s easier sometimes to not consume when you are in a group as opposed to an individual.”