Cornell senior gymnast Morgan Chall can't work on a bus.
Maybe it's the shaking, or the noise, or the snoring teammates. Maybe it's the anticipation of the competition, or reviewing every step from the routine she did hours before. Whatever it is, it's an inconvenience considering that the Cornell gymnastics team traveled 4,576 miles by bus for competitions during her senior season. Seventy-six hours of the second semester of her senior year as the San Mateo, Calif., native completes her degree in Global and Public Health Sciences (with minors in Policy Analysis and Management and Inequalities Studies).
Seventy-six hours, almost all over the weekend, without cracking open a book.
That's the life of a student-athlete, and after missing two full seasons due to injury, she's happy to live it.
But it's also a reminder that being a student-athlete is more challenging than meets the eye. A reminder Chall didn't necessarily need, but is grateful to have, as she lends her voice in support of her fellow competitors as chair of the national Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Chall was elected chair of the NCAA SAAC in January and has already gone to work in support of the committees initiatives, including providing additional mental health resources on campus for student-athletes, creating more personal and professional development opportunities, and fighting for increased diversity and inclusive hiring processes in athletic departments. Chall has served on the prestigious Division I Committee on Academics and has the ear of NCAA President Mark Emmert. She also has a better grasp of the NCAA governance structure than nearly anyone outside of Indianapolis, the organization's home quarters.
"Almost every piece of legislation comes through the Committee on Academics," Chall said. "Everything is studied for its impact on academics. Some of the most influential people in college athletics are involved in that committee, and being a member gave me the confidence I needed to gain a larger leadership role."
That Chall has risen to a position of national leadership is unsurprising to anyone at Cornell, or for that matter, involved in the Ivy League. She was elected as president of Cornell's SAAC prior to her sophomore campaign, but shortly after suffered a knee injury that shelved her for two seasons of competition.
Instead of worrying about her floor routine, which was good enough to place second at the Ivy Classic in her rookie year and helped the Big Red win its second ECAC team title, she poured herself into her work on campus with SAAC.
"It's in my nature to dive head first into things," Chall said.
She was influential in helping Cornell's SAAC spearhead the #DontBearItAlone campaign, which focused on reducing the stigma of mental health in college athletics. She also initiated the Nellies, a year-ending awards show put on by Cornell student-athletes, for Cornell student-athletes.
She moved on into a leadership role as the Ivy League student-athlete representative to the NCAA, attending conferences and meetings - networking and gaining insight into how the national organization worked. But it wasn't until Chall got back on the mat simultaneous to her outside work that the two worlds collided in a way that the senior could fully relate.
"I know what it's like to compete and what it's like to be injured. Senior year was the only season I competed the whole schedule. It's so different when you're injured - you feel like a bit of an outsider when you don't travel. But there are so many unique challenges when you're competing every weekend - it's exhausting," Chall said.
Now her goal is to leave student-athletes, and SAAC, in a better place than she found them.
"I've never treated these positions like resume builders. I'm passionate about the work. We can affect change for 1,000s of student-athletes with the decisions we make. I realize how far the student-athlete voice has come in the NCAA, and it has made a tremendous difference in all of our experiences."
Credits:
Video: Eldon Lindsay Photos: Cameron Pollack; Courtesy of Morgan Chall; Terry Simpson Photography