History Main / AcademicAthlete

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the episode ''Lisa on Ice'', Lisa discovers that she is failing PE despite her positive grades in school. She tries basketball and volleyball, but fails at both of them. One day, she, Homer and Marge pick up Bart from one of his games in pee wee ice hockey. Bart teases Lisa by using his hockey stick to shoot pieces of litter at Lisa. She manages to block the litter without any trouble. This does not go unnoticed by Apu, the coach of Bart's opposing team. As a test, he hits a hockey puck at Lisa. She manages to successfully grab it. Impressed, Apu recruits Lisa and appoints her as the goalie of his team. She proves to be very skilled in hockey and even battles Bart's team.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the episode ''Lisa on Ice'', Lisa discovers that she is failing PE despite her positive grades in school. She tries basketball and volleyball, but fails at both of them. One day, she, Homer and Marge pick up Bart from one of his games in pee wee ice hockey. Bart teases Lisa by using his hockey stick to shoot garbage at Lisa. She manages to block each piece of the garbage. This does not go unnoticed by Apu, the coach of Bart's opposing team. As a test, he hits a hockey puck at Lisa. She manages to successfully grab it. Impressed, Apu recruits Lisa and appoints her as the goalie of his team. She proves to be very skilled in hockey and even battles Bart's team.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the episode ''Lisa on Ice'', Lisa discovers that she is failing PE despite her positive grades in school. She tries basketball and volleyball, but fails at both of them. One day, she, Homer and Marge pick up Bart from one of his games in pee wee ice hockey. Bart teases Lisa by using his hockey stick to shoot garbage at Lisa. She manages to block each piece of garbage. This does not go unnoticed by Apu, the coach of Bart's opposing team. As a test, he hits a hockey puck at Lisa. She manages to successfully grab it. Impressed, Apu recruits Lisa and appoints her as the goalie of his team. She proves to be very skilled in hockey and even battles Bart's team.

Yes, jocks and athletes are typically [[DumbJock portrayed as unintelligent]] (sometimes to the point of being TooDumbToLive). But this guy (or girl) is different -- this jock just made the Dean's List and has to choose between an academic scholarship to a prestigious UsefulNotes/IvyLeague school, or the football scholarship in the Big 12. In other words, it's what you get when you combine a well-toned mind with well-toned muscles.

* ''Anime/InazumaEleven'': Kidou is one of the best soccer players introduced early in the series and has top grades at both English and Math. He manages both at the same time.

* Creator/ShaquilleONeal was one of the great NBA players of his time. Then he went back to school and earned his bachelor's, then a doctorate in Education. This was partly owed to, as he described it, [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted he burned through the first million dollars he ever made in roughly half an hour]].

* Touko and Saka of ''Manga/BloomIntoYou'' are the two top students in the school, and very skilled at sports. When the student council competes against the other clubs, they, with Touko and Sayaka's help, come in third, just after the basketball team.
* Kei Tsukishima of ''Manga/{{Haikyuu}}'' is a regular member of the Karasuno boys' volleyball team despite only being in his first year, and he's regarded as a smart guy at school (Class 1-4 is one of the advanced classes). The BookDumb duo Hinata and Kageyama at one point (begrudgingly) ask him to tutor them so they won't fail their exams. While Tsukishima's physical prowess is average at best (only his ~190cm height is something to write home about), he makes up for it with his intellect; the official statistics rate his game sense 5/5, meaning he strategises very effectively during matches.
* ''Anime/HungryHeartWildStriker'': Kyosuke's older brother Seisuke Kanou is a pro soccer player who rose through the ranks to play for the AC Milan, and according to many characters also had very high grades as a student.
* In ''Manga/TheLoveAndCreedOfSaeMaki'', Sae Maki is both a gifted student and an incredible athlete. Though her book smarts don't come up much, she is dangerously cunning and a shockingly capable KickChick in a fight.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''{{Tintin}}'', where Professor Calculus claims to be this. Haddock uses "complete athlete" (i.e., DumbJock) during one of his rants a short while after.
* Before becoming ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}, Kate Kane played soccer and took gymnastics in middle school, and became an internationally-qualified gymnast in high school; in high school, she was at the top of her class. She later boxed at West Point (with strong evidence she was a school champion) and was also academically successful, maintaining a class placement between the 95th and 99th percentile and eventually earning the rank of Brigade Executive Officer.

* The ''Fanfic/DokiDokiLiteratureClubLoops'' has Monika in this role, as implied in the source canon.

* Spoofed in ''Film/TheComebacks'', where the eponymous college football team is, to a man, on the Dean's list. Their coach, however, is upset upon hearing this, as it doesn't fit with the dumb, irresponsible jock stereotype. He encourages them to slack off and party more often.
* This was done to Mr. Freeze in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'', with Victor Fries described as a decathlete who won a Nobel Prize for his work in molecular biology. It was mostly because of them casting Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger in the role.

* Played with in ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods''. Curt is both a football player and on a full academic scholarship. TheConspiracy more or less randomly turns him into the DumbJock and his teammate Truman into TheSmartGuy, because [[EnforcedTrope they need people in those specific roles.]]
* In the third installment of ''Film/TheMightyDucks'', Coach Orion demands this of his players.
--> "Eden Hall Academy requires you to maintain a "C" average to compete. I believe that's a bad rule. I don't want any "C" players on my team. It's B's or better or you're riding the pine pony."
* The Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse version of Victor Stone before he got crippled in a car accident and became ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}. He was in the football team of Gotham City University and worked with his parents at S.T.A.R. Labs. His football career is touched upon in ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'', and his former self wearing his GCU jacket is [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith his avatar]] when he ventures in the digital world.
* Casey in ''Film/IcePrincess'' is a figure skating prodigy in addition to being a math genius whose been offered a scholarship.
* ''Film/SafetyPatrol:'' Hannah is head of the middle school cheerleading squad (who have a well-choreographed dance routine) and the valedictorian.
* ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet:'' In addition to being a fit jock, recurring character Dan Jordan is the valedictorian of his class.
* ''Film/TheArcher'': Lauren is both a straight A student and an expert marksman on her high school archery team.

* ''Literature/FearStreet'': Phoebe Yamura is a Straight-A student and is also the head cheerleader, showing some impressive acrobatic talent on the field.

* Kristin Amanda "Kristy" Thomas from ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'' has the management skills to create the club and be its president. Her sport is softball and she even starts a kids' team. It's also mentioned that she consistently earns straight [=As=].
* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Mikoto Misaka is better at academics than Touma (despite being a few years younger than him) and also highly athletic. Most of this is justified by Mikoto being a high-level [[PsychicPowers esper]], meaning she receives much better tuition than Touma and has limited SuperIntelligence as a RequiredSecondaryPower - in [[Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun her spinoff series]] the presence of her classmates makes it far less notable.

* In the Creator/SeananMcguire book ''Dying with Her Cheer Pants On'', Amy (a member of the DecoyProtagonist squad in the first chapter) is the only cheerleader who can always land a perfect back handspring. She also helps her squadmates study for exams and is hinted to like classical literature.
* ''Literature/{{TACK}}'': Chuck is not only good at sports, but he's a decent student and even represents Sandy Harbor at the regional spelling bee.
* Soccer Team KZ in ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'' was chosen by [[CramSchool Shumei Seminar]] to be a group of this. Much of the athlete part is already evident in the anime, but the ''first page'' of the novel already reminded the little readers that the KZ team's minimum academic requirement is... top 2.2%[[note]]The exact language used in the novel is the deviation value of 70; translated into statistics it is equivalent to two standard deviations above mean in a normal distribution. At this point the only university one is still being "unsafe" in getting in is UsefulNote/TokyoUniversity.[[/note]]. Since all the boys in the cast are current or former members of this team, they ''all'' fall into this trope.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'' -

* Fthfth in ''[[Literature/TerraTrilogy Terra]]'' is the daughter of two brilliant scientists and intends to "invent time travel" when she grows up. She is also a skilled and extremely competitive player of gshkth, a Fnrrn sport that seems to be a bit like field hockey.

For whatever reason, at least in fiction, this character is usually [[AlwaysFemale much more likely to be female]] than male, even though the sports being played are traditionally male-dominated. In real life, it's a much different story, as plenty of male academic athletes exist, but at least in fiction, Academic Athletes are Almost AlwaysFemale, possibly for [[FeministFantasy feminist]] reasons. This is probably done as a mix of PassionateSportsGirl and HigherEducationIsForWomen. If there's a contrast between two girls, this one will be firmly the {{Tomboy}} in TomboyAndGirlyGirl because of how independent she is. SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan on the other hand are less likely to use this as the sensitive guy is more likely to be academic and the manly man is more likely to be athletic. If there is a contrast between two athletic tomboys, the toxic manly tomboy will most likely not be an academic or cultured athlete, while the relatively more effeminate boyish tomboy (or a [[TomboyWithAGirlyStreak tomboy with a stronger girly streak]]) will be both an academic and cultured athlete. TruthInTelevision: studies have shown that students, both male and female, that engage in artistic extracurricular activities, such as music, singing, dancing, and other fine arts and crafts, tend to get better grades than those who do not engage in artistic extracurricular activities, so in many cases, a female academic athlete is also more likely to be an artistically cultured athlete as well.

* Fthfth in ''Literature/{{Terra}}'' is the daughter of two brilliant scientists and intends to "invent time travel" when she grows up. She is also a skilled and extremely competitive player of gshkth, a Fnrrn sport that seems to be a bit like field hockey.

* {{NFL}} quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, a Harvard graduate and owner of a BadassBeard.

[[folder:Video Game]]

Yes, jocks and athletes are typically [[BrainsVersusBrawn portrayed as unintelligent]] (sometimes to the point of being TooDumbToLive). But this guy (or girl) is different -- this jock just made the Dean's List and has to choose between an academic scholarship to a prestigious UsefulNotes/IvyLeague school, or the football scholarship in the Big 12. In other words, it's what you get when you combine a well-toned mind with well-toned muscles.

Compare GeniusBruiser, BadassBookworm, AdventurerArchaeologist, and GeniusDitz. Contrasts with DumbJock.

Compare GeniusBruiser, BadassBookworm, AdventurerArchaeologist, GeniusDitz, and BrainsVersusBrawn. Contrasts with DumbJock.

Compare GeniusBruiser, BadassBookworm, AdventurerArchaeologist, GeniusDitz, and the {{duo|Tropes}} of BrainsAndBrawn. Contrasts with DumbJock.

Yes, jocks and athletes are typically portrayed as unintelligent (sometimes to the point of being TooDumbToLive). But this guy (or girl) is different -- this jock just made the Dean's List and has to choose between an academic scholarship to a prestigious UsefulNotes/IvyLeague school, or the football scholarship in the Big 12. In other words, it's what you get when you combine a well-toned mind with well-toned muscles.

* Simon from ''[[Fanfic/TheRivalPrefectsTrilogy The Other Prefects]]'' is a member of the Quidditch team in addiction to being a great student.

** A recent example is Myron Rolle, Rhodes Scholar recipient in 2008. He was an all-ACC defensive back for the Florida State Seminoles and was good enough to get drafted in the NFL in 2010. Rolle never caught on with an NFL team and returned to Florida State to study medicine. After his graduation in May 2017, he will take up a neurosurgery residency at [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Harvard]].
** On the other hand, this is an outright EnforcedTrope in Europe; since college sports are considered a purely amateur affair that brings in negligible revenue for the institution, there's no incentive to give a brilliant athlete any leeway where academic performance is concerned like certain less reputable US colleges have been accused of.

* Former {{NBA}} star and U.S. Senator Bill Bradley. The top pick in the 1965 NBA Draft, Bradley averaged over 30 points per game for Princeton University, but didn't immediately start his pro basketball career, as he attended Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. While never a colorful player with gaudy numbers in the pros, he was a key part of the New York Knicks' 1970 and 1973 championship teams and played over a decade in the NBA.

* Former wrestler Chris(topher) Nowinski is the first Harvard alumnus to wrestle in the Wrestling/{{WWE}}, and his gimmick mainly revolved around his being such. He retired at the young age of 27 due to concussion-related issues, and is now a renowned expert on sports concussions.
* Shaquille O'Neal was one of the great NBA players of his time. Then he went back to school and earned his bachelor's, then a doctorate in Education. This was partly owed to, as he described it, [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted he burned through the first million dollars he ever made in roughly half an hour]].

* Moe Berg was a baseball player who attended New York University and Princeton, studied seven languages (Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Sanskrit), and worked for the US government as a spy during World War 2, doing missions in Japan and Europe