Academic Achievement and Athletic Performance of Freshmen
Athletes in the Special Program for Sports of the Philippine Normal
University Academic Year 2013–2014
Rosanna A. Diana
Philippine Normal University, Manila, Philippines
Keywords: Academic Profile, Academic Achievement, Athletic Profile, Student–Athletes.
Abstract: The Philippine Normal University (PNU), as the National Center for Teacher Education, considers the
evaluation of the impact of Teacher Education on students as one of its research priorities. Given the
mentioned research priority of the University, this study was intended to help in the assessment of the “Admit
to Play End to Teach Program,” of PNU, by evaluating the athletic performance and academic achievement
of the freshmen athletes, AY 2013–2014. It used the descriptive design and obtained both quantitative and
qualitative data. It utilized the following data gathering tools/procedure: 1.) Questionnaire 2.) Grades in the
General Education subjects 3.) Focus Group Discussions. Data were processed using frequencies and
percentages. Qualitative data were coded and clustered thematically. The study presented a picture of
freshmen athletes in the Special Program for Sports of PNU, AY 2013–2014; the factors that affect the athletic
performance of the freshmen athletes; the factors that affect the academic performance of the freshmen
athletes; and the problems and difficulties were the comprehensive bases for the development of “Intervention
Program” to help enhance the academic achievement and athletic performance of athletes. Results of the study
were recommended for consideration of admitting students with sports skills.
1 INTRODUCTION
During the Academic Year 2013–2014, selected
students directly entered Philippine Normal
University as varsity players and were labeled as
Physical Education Majors. The said section is
composed of students who were admitted because of
their excellent skills in different sports. Though these
students did not pass the University’s Admission Test
(PNUAT), they were able to enter the university
through the “Admit to Play End to Teach Program,”
a program approved by the PNU Administration. The
program invited those student–athletes who
demonstrated exceptional performance on their
games. These are the students who were able to join
and win in the National and other High–Level Sports
Competition. They were all screened using the
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the
University. The main goal of the said program is to
give those who want to teach and have good skills in
sports a chance to move their career. While these
students are doing their best to represent the school in
different sports competitions like the State Colleges
and Universities Athletic Association (SCUAA)
games, they are also performing well in their
academics since it is a requirement of SCUAA.
Therefore, these students will be able to achieve their
desired holistic development. This study aimed to
help in the assessment of the “Admit to Play End to
Teach Program,” of the Philippine Normal
University, by evaluating the athletic performance
and academic achievement of the freshmen athletes,
AY 2013–2014.
2 MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION
The “Admit to Play End to Teach Program” is
composed of typical freshmen athletes. This study is
mainly concerned in finding out the Academic
Achievement and Athletic Performance of these
Freshmen Athletes in the said Special Program for
Sports of Philippine Normal University. Specifically
this study seeks to answer the following questions:
1) What is the Profile of the freshmen athletes who
belong in the Special Program for Sports in
Diana, R.
Academic Achievement and Athletic Performance of Freshmen Athletes in the Special Program for Sports of the Philippine Normal University Academic Year 2013–2014.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sports Science, Health and Physical Education (ICSSHPE 2017) - Volume 1, pages 341-348
ISBN: 978-989-758-317-9
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
341

terms of: a.) Gender; b.) Age; c.) Civil Status;
d.) Family Background; e. Event.
2) What is the Performance Profile of the student–
athletes in the SCUAA competition?
3) What is the Academic Achievement Profile of
the freshmen athletes who belong to the Special
Program for Sports in terms of Grade Point
Average (GPA)?
4) What are the factors that affect the athletic and
academic performance of each athlete?
5) What intervention program can be prepared to
help enhance the academic achievement and
athletic performance of athletes?
3 LITERATURE REVIEW
Several studies on the academic and athletic
performances were conducted to provide the
background of the study (Chuan, 2013 & Adler,
1995).
Sports enhance the mental aspect of an individual
(Tower, 2008). Athletes need to learn and understand
the rules and regulations of the sports events in order
to perform well (Grimit, 2014). Joining sports
enhances the ability of the athletes to solve problems
(Lumpkin, 2012). They need to learn difficult
strategies of playing the game. Continuous learning
of solving problems enhances intellectual and health
conditions (Trudeau, 2008).
Aside from continuously enhancing their sports
skills, the student athletes likewise need to maintain
certain academic standard (Gaston, 2004). The
multiple demands from the student athletes may
negatively influence both their academic and sports
performance. Awith multiple school activities may
fall both in their academic subjects and in their sports
career if they are not properly motivated. Motivation
is needed for developing and performing athletic
skills (Kohs, 2015).
Maloney (1993) investigated whether
intercollegiate athletic participation affects scholarly
success. The overall means of course grades
suggested that athletes do not do as well in the
classroom as regular students (Rees, 2010).
Background factors explain this underperformance
for most sports; athletes come to school with lower
SAT scores and poorer high school preparation.
However, players in the revenue sports do worse even
accounting for this. They investigated the cause of
this unexplained underperformance (Stone, 1999).
They found that it was a seasonal phenomenon. For
them, this means that the exploitation of athletes
extends beyond the sidelines and into the classroom.
Sellers (1992) in his study examined race
differences in the predictors of college grade point
average (GPA) for student-athletes participating in
revenue producing sports. The findings suggest there
are different predictors of college academic
achievement for black versus white student-athletes.
High school GPA and mother’s occupation are the
only significant predictors of college GPA for black
student-athletes. On the other hand, high school GPA,
socioeconomic status, and SAT/ACT scores were
significant predictors for white student-athletes.
The study conducted by Moling (2009) stated that
the participation is also concerned with personal
adjustment, group adjustment and adjustment as a
member of the society. Hence, participation in sports
provides opportunities for the development of
desirable social traits needed for social life.
4 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Academic Profile - The result of effort exerted by the
freshmen athletes in their courses. This includes their
grades in their subjects.
Athletic Profile - A measured report on the
athletic performance of the freshmen athletes. In this
study, it is described by the rating given to the
student–athletes by their respective coaches.
Academic Achievement - The performance of the
athletes in their courses. This will be measured
through an analysis of their grades in the different
subjects.
Student–Athletes - These are the students enrolled
in a university who also perform as the school’s
representatives for competitions in sports.
SCUAA - This is the abbreviation for State
Colleges and Universities Athletic Association. It is
the association which leads in the Annual Sports
Competition of the country’s state colleges and
universities.
5 METHODS
The research used the descriptive design. It assessed
the “Admit to Play End to Teach Program,” of the
Philippine Normal University, by finding out the
Academic Achievement and Athletic Performance of
Freshmen Athletes, AY 2013–2014. The study
obtained both quantitative and qualitative data from
the Freshmen Athletes, AY 2013–2014, in the said
Special Program for Sports of Philippine Normal
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University. This research used the following data–
gathering tools/procedure:
 Following some of the variables on the the
Student’s Information Sheet produced by the
Admission Office which entering freshmen fill–
up for completion during enrollment, a
Questionnaire was developed by the researcher,
specifically for the Profile of the Freshmen
Athletes, AY 2013–2014, in the Special
Program for Sports of Philippine Normal
University. This was used to obtain quantitative
and qualitative feedback from the athletes
regarding their Athletic Performance and
Academic Achievement.
 The researcher used the grades in the General
Education subjects of each freshman athlete to
analyze how the athlete performed in the
subjects.
 Focus Group Discussions. FGDs was conducted
to Freshmen Athletes, AY 2013–2014, in the
Special Program for Sports of Philippine
Normal University, to determine the factor that
affect the athletic and academic performance of
the freshmen athletes and to gather their
collective experiences/feedback about the
strengths/weaknesses of the “Admit to Play End
to Teach Program” and their
comments/suggestions, which will improve the
Program. A set of Guide Questions was
prepared for this purpose.
A total of 29 Freshmen Athletes, AY 2013–2014,
who registered on the Special Program for Sports of
Philippine Normal University, will be evaluated on
their Academic Achievement and Athletic
Performance. Data were processed using frequencies
and percentages. Qualitative data were coded and
clustered thematically.
6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
For AY 2013–2014, data from the answered
questionnaires of the 29 freshmen athletes in the
Special Program for Sports of the Philippine Normal
University were processed to obtain the profile.
Table 1 shows the predominance of the males over
the females, having a percentage of 75.9% and the
latter with only 24.1%. Age wise, the greatest number
of the respondents (14 or 48.3%) were 19 years old
for both male and female, while there were 8 or 27.6%
for both male and female who were aged 18. Both
males and females were predominant in volleyball
and basketball and few in Arnis, Athletics,
Badminton, Football, Pep Squad and Sepak Takraw
for male and none for females. It was recorded that
there were 100% who answered “single” to the item
of “civil status” on the questionnaire of the
respondents.
Table 1: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents according to Gender, Age, High School Sports Involvement.
In terms of socio-economic status, the
respondents were asked to check from the choices
provided in the questionnaire the socio-economic
status of their family. The findings showed that 83%
of the respondents indicated that they belonged to the
middle-class-family while about 17% said they
belonged to the low-class-family. It should be noted
that there were none who answered that they
belonged to the high-class-family. Most of the
respondents (79.2%) were living with their parents,
while there were about 21% who indicated living with
their relatives at home. Family size, as used in this
study, means number of children plus the parents.
Majority of the respondents (58.6%) belonged to
families with five (5) to seven (7) members. This
means that, at most, there were only five children in a
family.
Academic Achievement and Athletic Performance of Freshmen Athletes in the Special Program for Sports of the Philippine Normal
University Academic Year 2013–2014
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Table 2: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents according to Socio–Economic Status, Person/s They Are
Living With, and Family Size.
Table 3 below shows that more than half of the
respondents had both father and mother who were
able to go to college. Fifty-five percent (55.2%, to be
exact) of the fathers and 44.8 of the mothers, in fact,
with college degrees. On the other hand, a little over
24% of both parents did not reach college.
Table 3: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents according to Parents’ Educational Attainment and Parents’
Status of Occupation.
On the fact that more male parents earned a
college degree, data on parents’ income (Table 4)
show that men are earning more than women. 34.5%
of the male parents and 24.1% of the female parents
were earning more than 10,000.
Table 4: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents according to Parents’ Income.
In terms of performance profile of the student–
athletes in the SCUAA competition, Table 5 shows
that they were involved in eight (8) different sports,
which were classified into two (2); individual-dual
sports that include Arnis Athletics Badminton and the
team sports like Basketball, Football, Pep Squad,
Sepak Takraw and Volleyball. The ten (10) bronze
medals were received by the following student–
athletes; two (2) from athletics, one (1) in arnis,
badminton and football, and four (5) from volleyball.
Majority of the respondents (65.5%) did not receive
awards in the SCUAA.
On the team standing, most of the respondents (13
or 44.8) were on the 4th runner up from volleyball
team, followed by the 5th runner up (7 or 24.1%) from
basketball team, 3rd runner up (6 or 20.7%) from
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arnis, badminton, football and Sepak-Takraw team,
and 2nd runner up (3 or 10.3%) from Athletics and
Pep-Squad team.
Table 5: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents according to Sports Involvement and Its Type, SCUAA
Awards Received.
When asked about the number of hours they allot
for training, the greater bulk of the respondents (22 or
75.9%) disclosed seven (7) to nine (9) hours of
training. A negligible number (7 or 24.1%) of the
respondents had four (4) to six (6) hours of training.
Table 6: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents according to Number of Hours Allotted for Training.
For the Academic Achievement Profile of the
freshmen athletes who belong to the Special Program
for Sports, in terms of Grade Point Average (GPA),
more than half of the respondents (72.41%) obtained
averages ranging from 80 to 84, while 27.59 had
averages of 85 to 89.
Table 7: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents according to General Education Subjects Average per
Semester.
In terms of the number of hours they allot for
studying, most of the respondents (about 61%)
revealed below one (1) to two (2) hours of studying,
with the highest number of the respondents (15 or
51.7%) giving themselves one (1) to two (2) hours
and a small number (3 or 10.3%) for less than an hour.
Table 8: Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents according to Number of Hours Allotted for Studying.
Academic Achievement and Athletic Performance of Freshmen Athletes in the Special Program for Sports of the Philippine Normal
University Academic Year 2013–2014
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As regards the factors that affect the athletic and
academic performance of the freshmen athletes,
through Focus Group Discussion, the respondents
revealed the following factors:
Athletic
 Lack of time for training;
 Lack of tune-up games played before the Actual
games
 Time management
Academic
• Lack of extra time to study
• Poor study habits
• Lack of ability to understand lessons
In addition, the following were the gathered
collective experiences/feedback about the
strengths/weaknesses of the “Admit to Play End to
Teach Program” plus their comments/suggestions:
6.1 Athletic Experiences / Feedbacks
6.1.1 Summary of the Responses:
 manifest good relationship with their
teammates/co-trainees;
 attend trainings/practices regularly;
 come on time during trainings/practices;
 come prepared and motivated during
trainings/practices;
6.1.2 Other Responses:
 deteriorating sports performance;
 insufficient time for training;
 can’t manage time to do both trainings and
doing other tasksi
6.1.3 Comments/Suggestions:
 More time for training
 Time management
6.2 Academic Experiences / Feedbacks
6.2.1 Summary of the Responses:
 manifest good relationship with their
classmates which at the same time their
teammates/co-trainees;
 come prepared and motivated during class
hours;
 manage to balance the studies and training
because of having enough number of
subjects/units;
6.2.2 Other Responses:
 tardiness/frequent absences in class hours;
 deteriorating performance inside the
classroom;
 the time allotted for each meeting is not
enough to understand the lessons;
 low motivation to do school work;
 difficulty in making better grades;
 difficulty in getting along with the
professor;
 poor time management;
 poor study habits;
 aside from class hour, no extra time to study;
6.2.3 Comments/Suggestions:
 Extra time for studying
 Time management
Based on the identified factors that affect the
athletic and academic performance, problems and
difficulties encountered by the respondents, an
intervention program was prepared to help enhance
the academic achievement and athletic performance
of the athletes.
6.3 Program Goal
The goal of the program is to enhance the academic
achievement and athletic performance of athletes.
6.4 Program Delivery Mechanism
Team Study Program
 Freshmen-Athletes are required to attend team
study with a minimum of 7.5 per week. This is
a supervised study time for freshmen-athletes
having academic difficulty.
Tutorial Program
 Tutor and the Freshmen-Athletes meet at least
twice per week for one hour with additional
sessions if necessary.
Informational Team Meetings
 A chance to discuss such topics as athletic
eligibility, changes of policy, and special events
in a group meeting.
Educational Seminar–Workshops
 Beneficial seminar–workshops are to be
conducted twice a month with the entire team.
Individual and Group Counseling and Advising
 To foster the intra- and inter-personal learning
and development of coping and socializing
techniques.
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6.5 Program Content
The programs emphasized on dealing with the
academic and athletic performance enhancement of
freshmen-athletes and specifically concentrate on
dealing with poor study habits, difficulty in managing
time, tardiness/frequent absences and difficulty in
making better grades, sustaining practice motivation,
maintaining competitive level, maintaining sports
eligibility.
6.6 Human Resources
An advisory team is comprised of at least one person
from every event/sport that the freshmen-athletes
might touch–faculty, coaches or athletic trainers.
7 SUMMARY
This profile has presented the following picture of
freshmen athletes in the Special Program for Sports
of the Philippine Normal University, AY 2013–2014:
1. The freshmen-athletes, in general, were largely
male, majority were 19 years of age for both male and
female and single and predominant in volleyball and
basketball events. 2. More than half of the
respondents belonged to middle–class–family, living
with their parents with an average number of five (5)
children in a family. 3. More than half of the
respondents had parents who were able to go to
college. More male parents earned a college degree
and earned more than women. 4. The freshmen-
athletes were involved in eight (8) different sports,
classified into individual-dual sports and team sports.
5. Ten (10) bronze medals were received by the
student–athletes and majority of the respondents did
not receive awards in the SCUAA. On the team
standing, most of the respondents were on the 4th
runner up. 6. Almost all of the freshmen-athletes
allotted seven (7) to nine (9) hours of training. 7.
More than half of the respondents obtained averages
ranging from 80 to 84 with one (1) to two (2) hours
allotted for studying. 8. The factors that affect the
athletic performance of the freshmen athletes were
the lack of time for training; lack of tune-up games
played before the actual games and time
management. 9. The factors that affect the academic
performance of the freshmen athletes were the lack of
extra time to study, poor study habits and lack of
ability to understand lessons. 10. Problems and
difficulties can be a comprehensive basis for the
development of intervention program.
8 CONCLUSIONS
After analyzing the profile that presented the picture
of freshmen athletes in the Special Program for Sports
of the Philippine Normal University, AY 2013–2014,
particularly on the academic and athletic
performances, results showed that there were
comprehensive problems and difficulties in
enhancing their sports skills, likewise in maintaining
certain academic standard. With this, it can be
concluded that the Special Program for Sports of the
Philippine Normal University, AY 2013–2014, can
be retained but change or revision must be done in
order to further enhance the athletic and academic
performance of freshmen athletes and also develop
the desirable social traits needed for social life.
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