Student athlete faces challenge of balancing rowing, motherhood

Being a student athlete is like having two jobs. They must find and master the delicate balance between schoolwork and athletic practices and events. It's a difficult task, but the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, particularly the rowing team, has excelled at helping their athletes achieve success in both areas.

Redshirt junior Nicole Burdiek deals with a third responsibility: motherhood.

During her sophomore year, Burdiek became pregnant with her son, Logan. Despite the challenges brought on by raising a child, she has overcome them and found support from her team.

"Being a mom and student athlete can be challenging at times, but I have a lot of support from my family, coaches and teammates that makes it easier," Burdiek said.

Burdiek never rowed in high school, but she was looking to come to K-State for academics. After she and her best friend, redshirt junior Anna Young, received recruiting trip notices in the mail from the team, they decided to visit Manhattan.

"We thought it sounded interesting so we came up on the same weekend to see what it was all about," Burdiek said. "I had never rowed before college, so I thought it was a great opportunity to join a Division I team in a sport that was new to me."

After Burdiek decided to join the team, she was redshirted during her freshman year. After competing in just one race in her sophomore year, she told the coaches that she was pregnant and sat out the remainder of the season. When she decided to stay on the team as a junior, the coaching staff made it clear that she wouldn't be given any exceptions because of Logan.

"We don't allow any of the girls to make excuses," said head coach Patrick Sweeney. "When this happened, we didn't tell her it wasn't possible. We said to her that the door was wide open, but there will be no allowances. She hasn't been given a free ride and she's done a good job."

The challenge of raising her child seemingly brought out the best of Burdiek. She began to excel on the crew, in the classroom and as a mother.

As a student, she maintains a 3.3 grade point average and has a double major in psychology and family studies and human services. As a mother, by accounts from the people around her, she is doing a terrific job of raising Logan, who will be two years old in July.

"She's handled things better than anyone else could have," Young said. "She's done it all herself. She's handled it, and she takes care of everything she needs to take of."

Burdiek has received support and help taking care of Logan from her parents as well.

"My parents keep him while we travel so he gets a lot of extra grandma and grandpa time, which I am sure that he loves," Burdiek said.

Many of the girls see Burdiek as a silent leader. She is not the most vocal or energetic of the bunch, but her actions speak louder than her words.

"She's really quiet," Sweeney said. "She's not a big talker. What she does do, though, is that she's a hard-worker. She's obviously disciplined and she's focused on whatever she does. That's how she's a leader."

Due to her story, Burdiek has been nominated for the "Most Inspirational Athlete of the Year" award at the upcoming Powercat Choice Awards. Through everything that she has dealt with, Young believes that the team is what kept Burdiek at K-State.

"If she hadn't been on the rowing team, then there's a good chance she wouldn't have stayed at K-State," Young said. "This team made her stick with the academics and everything."

Burdiek also credits the crew with pushing her to do her absolute best in life and allowing her to discover that she is capable of more than she realizes.

"Rowing has showed me a lot about myself," Burdiek said. "I have never been in a sport where you have had to demand so much of yourself and push yourself to the limit, even past the limit, of what you have to do. It has taught me that I can handle a lot more than what sometimes I think that I can."