SBART Scholar Athlete of the Year: Andre Battle from Dream Cast Media Group on Vimeo.
Santa Barbara High basketball coach Corey Adam knows how academic and athletic excellence can reinforce each other — he sees it in Andre Battle, the senior captain of the season recently ended.
The Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table is honoring Battle as the Scholar Athlete of the Year recipient for Santa Barbara High School. The award is sponsored by Round Table member Marc Gamberdella of the Gamberdella-Spruill Group.
“His academic prowess comes across in athletics,” Adam said. “In basketball you see certain really good student skills on the court, especially in practice. He asks questions when he doesn’t understand something, which as coaches we really appreciate — teachers and coaches. He’s eager to learn.”
And that eagerness to learn becomes an example for his teammates, Adam added.
Battle’s academic prowess is beyond question. He carries a 4.6 GPA with plenty of AP classes in his course-load, and four-year memberships in the National Honor Society and California Scholarship Federation.
He will attend UCLA in the fall and intends to major in biology, with perhaps a minor in journalism. Writing and journalism is a self-professed passion and he’s been a four-year sports editor and writer for The Forge, the SBHS school newspaper.
Aside from studies and sports — in addition to the basketball team, he does the long jump and triple jump for the Dons’ track team, and runs a leg of the 4×100 relay — he finds time for more then 175 community service hours and counting, including for ResQcats shelter, The REEF aquatic touch tank and working with first-generation students at Santa Barbara Junior High School.
“Clearly, Andre’s a renaissance man,” said Marc Gamberdella. “Athletically, academically and just a very impressive guy — He’s also a very active guy in our community.”
That eagerness to learn started with childhood curiosity, as it does with the best scientists.
“When i was a kid, i went to the beach, like every weekend,” Battle said. “I liked just exploring the water and tide pools.”
From there, applying his curiosity and ever-accumulating knowledge led to more recognition, including a presentation he did to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) about the dangers affecting marine life.
He looks forward to further study at UCLA.
“They have a really good biology program,” he said. “I’m excited.”
Basketball experiences include varsity experience as a sophomore for the Dons’ CIF-SS run to the semifinals and taking a leadership role working with fifth- through eighth-graders at the Dons’ Youth Basketball Camp last summer.
And he’s a “great teammate,” Adam said.
“He just maintains a steady emotional level, which we need in a leader,” the coach said. “I think guys take direction from him because he doesn’t use negative body language and doesn’t have a negative tone. We really appreciate everything he’s done for us.”
Battle, in turn, spreads the gratitude for sports and for everyone who’s helped him along his path. That includes SBART and Gamberdella for the Scholar Athlete award and his high school coaches Adam, Greg Zuffelato and Tyler Shyrock “for always pushing me to be my best, either on the court or in the classroom.”
“Basketball has always had a special place in my heart, and whenever I feel like I’m stressed out or something’s bothering me I always go to the court to relax and just calm down.”
Basketball and track, he said, “have given me a second family” and bonds with teammates “that are like no other.”
And he thanks his younger brother Carter, “for being my teammate and best friend.
“Finally and most important, I’d like to thank my parents (Kareem and Laura Battle).
“Without them I’m nowhere in life. They’re the reason I’m thriving the way I am today.”