May 1, 2009
By Katie Meier, Assistant Sports Information Director
Work hard, play hard. It's a typical approach to life, especially for your typical college student. Junior Nick Leigh certainly ascribes to that motto, but not in the way one might think.
There's no question Leigh works hard. As a biology major, most of his days are filled with classes, labs, exams and studying.
But Leigh also finds time to play hard--on the soccer field. Like every student-athlete at Lafayette, Leigh has perfected his time management skills so that he can not only become a standout player on the soccer field, but so that he can also take advantage of every academic opportunity during his four years on College Hill.
Leigh did give some brief though to switching to chemistry, but stuck with biology. His interest in chemistry remained, however, after taking an organic chemistry class with second-year professor Jennifer Rutherford. He was so interested, in fact, that last fall he asked Rutherford if he could work with her on a research project. Undergraduate research is highly encouraged at Lafayette and Rutherford took him up on the offer.
"I initially wanted to start last fall but I broke my leg playing soccer," he said. "So this semester I've really gotten started with the research. I go in on Fridays for three hours and when I have more time, I'll also go in on Mondays and Wednesdays for a few hours."
While the research itself might be complicated, the subject matter is one that should make most people take notice.
"There's this antimicrobial stuff that they put in things like toothpaste, soap, all sorts of stuff," Leigh explained. "The way it looks, it could be made into something toxic pretty easily. What we're trying to do is figure out how realistic is it to be converted into this chemical that could be harmful. It's a slow process and we're still not sure what we're making, but we're working on figuring that out."
This summer, Leigh will remain in Easton until July. During that time, he'll continue his research before taking a sociology course to get ahead in his classes. He's also hoping to spend any free time he has back in the lab before going home to Illinois in July to see his family, something he rarely gets to do during the academic year.
Time off isn't a concept with which Leigh is too familiar. Not only does he balance his academic responsibilities with a sport that has no real off season, he also works with fellow student-athletes as one of two peer mentors on the men's soccer team.
Under head coach Dennis Bohn, all freshmen on the squad are enrolled in the program. Leigh benefitted so much from the program in his first year that he expressed an interest in becoming a peer mentor himself.
"It's a lot of fun," he said. "I didn't know a single person here when I got to Lafayette, but my peer mentor [cross country runner Katie Schultes '08] really helped me out. She was a bio major, too, so she was a huge help and that made me want to give back."
While Leigh has always doled out advice on the soccer field, he says the type of advice he gives and the feedback he receives as a peer mentor is different.
"On the team you give teammates advice," he said, "but when it's a one-on-one session as a peer mentor, it's like you're really able to impart your knowledge and help them."
Leigh puts his all into everything he does, and while the results of his effort are easy to see in his research and peer mentoring, they might be most evident when he takes the soccer field.
"I'm probably one of the least-skilled people on the team," he said, "but I've always prided myself on my work ethic."
Bohn has a slightly different take on Nick's skill level.
"Nick is a gifted athlete who is strong in the air and defensively very responsible," he said. "He is tall, fit and has above average speed. He is a tough matchup for most defenders because he never stops working and cares so much about our team's success. Those physical qualities along with his leadership skills make him one of our most important players."
Clearly some might argue against Nick's assessment of his skill set--most notably his coaches and teammates--but his work ethic is at least as big a reason for his soccer success as his athleticism is. A rising senior, he knows that title goes hand-in-hand with being a team leader and it's a role he's embraced.
"I'm a big believer in leading by example," Leigh said. "As much as it is important to say things at times, I think you should just go out there and play your hardest and sacrifice yourself for as long as you're in there."
If the younger players on the team take nothing else away from Leigh, that message should be the one they remember.
"My freshman year, if I played 10 minutes in a game, I'd go crazy for those 10 minutes, which is what I want everyone to do," he explained. "Freshman year no one is used to playing 10 minutes. No one. But you have to make use of your time and push yourself. You go all out for the people on this team and sacrifice for each other."
Leigh has one final season on College Hill to "go all out." He admits he's had bad luck with injuries--a torn MCL during the spring semester his freshman year, a week-long hospital stay with a bad illness that same semester, and a broken leg this past fall--but is eager to get back on the field.
"Soccer is a good escape from the every day," he said. "I always think about if I weren't a student-athlete, what I would be doing with my time. I'd probably be in the library the whole time. So soccer gives me something to look forward to. In the fall, you look forward to every Patriot League game and it helps you get through the school week when you know you have a huge game on Saturday."
So what's on the horizon for Leigh once there are no more Saturday games?
"I'm planning to go to grad school, probably somewhere out West, like Colorado," he said.
The location makes sense when Leigh says he wants to study elk, just one more fact that makes him unique.
"I've always been interested in them. Everyone always makes fun of me for that," he said with a laugh. "Ideally, I'll get my PhD and become a professor. Maybe get a job with the forest service."
