ATHLETES AND READING

The life of a college student-athlete is a busy one to be sure.

Between attending classes, studying, practices, workouts and the actual games or events -- not to mention trying to have a social life -- student-athletes often barely find enough time to sleep.

That's the way it is at Southeast Missouri State University. But athletes are never too busy to read. After all, reading is a big part of college life, from books and textbooks for classes to books, magazines and newspapers for simple enjoyment.

Several Southeast athletes interviewed talked about the kinds of things they like to read, both for classes and in their leisure time.

Erin Chenier, one of the top gymnasts in Southeast history, prefers reading poetry and also children's books.

"I like to read a lot of little poems," she said. "My major is elementary education, so I read a lot of kids' books. For school, I basically just read textbooks.

Chenier said she read quite a few novels in high school, but sometimes she can't find the time during college.

"This semester it's going to be really hard to find time," she said. "But in the summer I read a lot."

Erica Smith, one of Chenier's teammates on the Otahkian gymnastics squad, likes inspirational items and also the Bible.

"I look for inspirational stuff, things like quotes, that I can put in the gym," she said. "I read the Bible. Otherwise, I read mostly small things. If I do have some time to kill, I like mysteries."

Calvert White, the second-leading scorer on last season's Southeast men's basketball team, said with a laugh, "I only read when I have to."

But really, White was only kidding. He will have to read some pretty interesting material for some of his classes this year and also enjoys reading newspapers and magazines.

"I'm taking a class this semester called legal aspects of sports," he explained. "I know I'm going to have to read a lot of that.

"I like to read the Southeast Missourian, and I read Sports Illustrated. Anything dealing with sports, I like."

White said he hasn't read many books lately, but one of his all-time favorites is "To Kill a Mockingbird," although he said he hasn't seen the movie.

Jason Swearingen, one of the top pitchers for the Indians' baseball team, said sports and school occupies so much of his time that, "I don't have much time to read."

But during a literature class, he said, "we read a lot of short stories."

When free time does present itself, Swearingen likes to read "newspapers, like USA Today and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, since I'm from St. Louis. I like to read Baseball America (a national publication)."

One of the books he's enjoyed reading is "Catcher in the Rye."

"I read that back in high school for a class and I really enjoyed it," he said.

Melinda Thomas, a member of the Southeast women's tennis team, said she likes reading "real-life stuff like autobiographies. One of my favorites is the "Power of One." "

Thomas said she reads plenty of textbooks for classes, and the native of Australia likes to scan the Internet for newspapers "from back home."