Virginia Military Institute’s cadet-athletes have to juggle cadet life, heavy academic course loads, and their NCAA Division I sport. Committed to both academic and athletic pursuits, balancing their rigorous schedule in both sports and school requires a certain level of commitment and discipline. Behind the Balance is a series that focuses on those cadet-athletes and how they handle the hurdles of the day-to-day. 

LEXINGTON, Va. Nov. 4, 2024 — With a father as a soccer coach and two older sisters playing the sport, Whitney Tracy ’25 knew she’d be on the field. Except, her father didn’t expect her to be in goal. 

"I ended up, as I got older, wanting to play in goal rather than the field, because I didn't like running. And my dad spent years trying to keep me out of it. He did not want me to be playing goal because he was a coach and that was one position he didn't know how to coach,” she said. "Well, I don't like listening to my parents being the youngest child, you know ... rebellion. So, I did it anyway. Turns out I was pretty good at it.” 

Tracy, originally from outside of Philadelphia, knew she wanted to play Division I soccer, but she also wanted to attend a school that was more academic-focused and structured.  

"I started looking at the military route, because it just seemed like it fit for me, that discipline, that idea of everyone caring about where they are,” she said. 

She was looking at other military colleges, but realized she didn’t know which branch of the armed forces would suit her best. She wasn’t ready to commit to commissioning. That’s when one of the coaches from Virginia Military Institute reached out.  

“It kind of fit perfectly for me,” she said. 

Not only is she the starting goal for the team, she’s also a S4 lieutenant, and part of the VMI Institute Honors Program. Her duties as a S4 lieutenant are handling supply and logistics for the Corps and other programs within the Institute. That also means she’s on post before most of the Corps with soccer and her regimental duties.  

Tracy arrives a month before the fall semester starts. The first two weeks are devoted to soccer, then it’s onto her cadre responsibilities. 

It can get really busy to balance everything, specifically Cadre Week,” she said. “We were just kind of prepping. We set up all of the rat’s’ rooms. We made sure that each one had the proper amount of hays in it. My staff was making sure that all the rooms were proper.” 

Matriculation Week was also hectic getting supplies and organized, Tracy explained. That’s all while handling her soccer schedule too, which only gets busier when classes start. 

Cadet-athletes at VMI not only have their responsibilities with their selected sport but cadet duties on top of that. Cadets are also required to take physical fitness classes twice a week, participate in ROTC all four years, prepare for room and uniform inspections, practice for parade, guard duty, and more. 

Tracy’s busy schedule isn’t a hinderance, though. It has helped her. 

“I've always been big on being involved in things. I don't like sitting on the sidelines,” she said. “I'm somebody who likes trying to figure out what's going on and help organize stuff.” 

Her job as a lieutenant is directing her sergeants and corporals.  

“That's kind of where I thrive,” she said. “How do I disseminate it to get it done? How do I make sure that everything gets done? I can look at all the pieces and say, ‘Oh, this is not being done in an efficient way. How can we make this more efficient?’” 

Now in her final year at VMI as a biology major, she has a 12-credit semester for the fall, which is significantly down from previous semesters of 19 or more credits. She planned it this way, by taking heavier class loads previously, plus she did a summer abroad study program in Ireland last summer that gave her six credits.  

“I've taken the extra credits so that I can have that light semester,” she said. “I wanted my senior year to be able to say, I have rats, I'm finishing up my soccer career. I want to be able to go out on the weekends with my friends and go get dinner in town on Thursday night and not have to worry about six tests next week, and everything else. I kind of front loaded myself so then I could breathe my 1st Class year.”

Don’t let the 12 credits fool you though. She’s also working on her senior thesis that she will present in the spring. Her research is on the pathogenic fungal disease called White Nose Syndrome in the rock crevices of a species of bats called the Eastern small footed bats. 

Her days are still packed. She’s up at 6:30 a.m. daily for formation, then it’s breakfast, classes all day, and onto practice. By 8 p.m. she’s set in doing homework.  

“I would say I'm very big on writing things down. I have a pretty good memory when it comes to scheduling. But when it comes to homework assignments, I have to be able to see everything. I'm a very visual person.” 

She says it’s hard for her to get schoolwork done during the day because she’s so busy either talking to her professors or other tasks. But communicating with her professors is integral to keeping up with her studies and playing soccer — she’s able to work out missed tests or class assignments when she is in constant communication with them.  

Getting any work done on bus rides is a no-go for Tracy. It’s tough to get any real work done, she said. Instead, the team ends up doing a lot of work together at the hotel prior to game times. 

“The team is down in the lobby doing homework, we're all very motivated academically that we want to make sure that we have stuff done,” she said. 

Her plans after graduation are to take a gap year, get her certified nursing assistant certification, work on contact patient hours, then apply to a physician assistant program. 

Laura Peters Shapiro
Communications & Marketing
VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE