Academic success was like converting a lay-up for Malte Kramer during his college basketball career.
The former Pepperdine Wave forward excelled in the classroom, while making buckets on the court. He had a 4.0 GPA, gave teammates advice on how to get schoolwork done and was co-valedictorian of Pepperdine’s 2014 graduation class.
Kramer said being the university’s valedictorian two years ago was a big accomplishment.
“I definitely had to commit and sacrifice quite a bit,” he said. “Being valedictorian was of my prouder moments.”
Now, the Stanford Graduate School of Business student is dispensing his knowledge of how student-athletes can excel in their studies and still have time to be successful on the court in a new book published by Peterson’s, a Nebraska-based publishing company.
“Play For Something: Inspiration, Strategies, and Know-How for College Athletes to Succeed in the Classroom and Beyond” was released on Oct. 25 and can be purchased at booksellers such as Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. In the book, the 27-year-old Kramer gives high school and college athletes advice on how they can be successful in the classroom without sacrificing success in their sport.
Kramer wrote about study strategies, memory mastery, effective writing strategies, homesickness and networking. “Play For Something” also has insightful stories from some of the world’s leading athletes and business experts, including Olympians, Academic All-Americans and business leaders.
The 6-foot-6 native of Germany said in college he wanted excellent grades badly and now he wants the same thing for other college athletes.
“People talk about being a student first and an athlete second, but when you are playing a Division 1 sport, no matter how much you care about your academics, athletics take up so much of your time,” Kramer said. “So much is required, in terms of the effort you have to put in. I want athletes to excel.”
The new author said athletes can be victorious in their studies by doing three things: Finding inspiration, leveraging their situation and setting a system.
Kramer said a student-athlete’s inspiration pertains to why they should care about academics. Kramer said academics set a collegiate athlete up for a life after college, and that college sport participants must consider options outside of the sport in case of injury or not making it professionally.
Kramer said basketball, baseball and soccer players, and participants in other college sports, should reach out to professors and academic advisors for aid.
“Turn them into mentors,” he said. “They are willing to help athletes, it’s just a matter of reaching out the right way.”
Finally, Kramer advised high school and college athletes to use their time wisely and organize.
“I used to take Sunday afternoons and do all my readings for different classes in one sitting,” he said. “Monday mornings, I would do all my writing. I put similar tasks together and it helped getting a lot of things done quicker.”
While in college, Kramer often gave teammates advice on how to study. He also was Pepperdine basketball’s first-ever Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American. Kramer was a Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association Scholar-Athlete, a NABC Honors Court member, a WCC All-Academic first-teamer, WCC Commissioner’s Honor Roll “gold” list member and a Pepperdine Scholar-Athlete. Kramer averaged 4.6 points and 1.4 rebounds per game during his two seasons with the Waves.
Kramer was also an outstanding student-athlete before transferring to Pepperdine. From 2010 to 2012, he was a basketball player at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo. There he was named California’s Male JC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the school’s Athlete of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the MVP of the Western State Conference’s North Division. Kramer averaged 17.9 points per game as a freshman and 19.4 points per game as a senior for the Cougars.
After he graduated from Pepperdine, he pulled together all the tips he had given teammates and himself and realized he could write a book. Kramer originally self-published “Play For Something.” Then, last November, Peterson’s contacted him and said it wanted to publish the book.
Kramer founded a luxury real estate technology company after graduating from Pepperdine. He said he wants to be an example for student-athletes of someone who took school and sports seriously. Kramer said his book will help do that.
“My hope is it inspires student-athletes to realize the enormous impact they canhave beyond their sport and start thinking of themselves as not just athletes, but as professionals and members of society in a broader sense,” he said. “They can do a lot of amazing things beyond their sport if they put their mind to it.”
