If one of the roles of college athletics is to prepare young athletes to be successful contributing citizens in their communities, Viking senior tennis player Zach Lubek is a poster child for the success of that model.
 
The 21-year-old out of Capitol High School in Helena Mont., and team captain, will begin applying for medical school admission next June, after a focused and successful four years as a Viking student-athlete.
 
Lubek decided in high school that he wanted to practice medicine.  Before that… at the age of 8… he decided he wanted to play tennis. 

His dad Jim had been scheduled to play at St. Thomas University in Indiana before suffering a career ending knee injury prior to his first season.  Obviously, he wanted to give his son the same opportunity.
 
“He bought me my first racquet and he'd take me to the courts close to home and hit balls around.  I fell in love with tennis,” Lubek recalled.
 
Still, like most of his friends, he played soccer through his sophomore year in high school.
 
 “My high school tennis coach said if I wanted to play college tennis, I needed to make a decision,” Lubek said. 
 
It was an easy decision because “I was drawn to tennis.  I like the individuality of the sport.  Whether you win or lose is totally dependent upon your performance.”
 
That decision, coupled with realization that he wanted to be a doctor, helped open the door for his decision to choose PSU over Montana or Montana State, both of which held some interest.
 
Former Viking Tennis Coach Brian Parrott was impressed with Lubek's high school record… team captain and MVP his senior year, 19-0 during the 2008 regular season, state runner-up in 2007, second at USTA's Montana Masters Cup in 2008.  He offered him a chance to play on the PSU men's tennis team.
 
PSU's ties to OHSU made the difference.  Lubek became a Viking.
 
Also, having grown up in a town of around 32,000, “I thought it was time in my life to see something different.”  And, he found, suddenly living downtown in a metropolitan area about 1.5 million was very different.    
 
 “There were more people, more cars, more noise… more chaos than I was used to in Montana where it's very quiet and open.  But, I was excited about the move to a city.  I thought was a perfect time in my life to experience something different,” he said.
 
It took a while to get comfortable (“we don't even pay for parking downtown”), but he's grown to really like it (“a bigger Missoula”).  He's not sure he'd want to end up in a big city, “but I really like Portland.  The best thing about Portland is the connections I've been able to make I couldn't have dreamed of back home.”
 
He mentioned contacts in the fields of business and medicine...”mentors who really helped keep me on the right path for what I eventually want to do.”
 
For now, Lubek is drawn toward pediatric emergency medicine because “I really enjoy interacting with kids”.  He's done a lot of “shadowing” and has volunteered at the pediatric emergency room at OHSU.
 
Although he's carrying a 3.6 cumulative gpa in health sciences with a minor in chemistry, he describes himself as “more of a social doctor.  I'm not interested in surgery or anesthiology.  I really value the interaction with people.  I like people.”
 
That affection for people led him to being named men's tennis team captain his junior and senior years, an experience he counts as one of a couple tennis highlights during his time as a Viking.  He said he liked  “being able to help the team grow and helping create a family feel.  It helped me grow as an individual. “
 
Another highlight, he said, was last year's road trip to play MSU in Missoula.  “I had to biggest supporting cast I've ever seen.  All myfamily and friends came.  They outnumbered MSU's entire cheering section 10-1.”
 
Having the role as team captain also “heightened my sense of responsibility… helping others… mentoring the younger guys…helping show them how to successfully balance student, athletic and social lives… sharing with them the things I've learned.”
 
What he's learned, as PSU head coach Jay Sterling told him, is that “college life for a student-athlete is composed of three things.  They are sports, academics and social life and you only have time to be good at two of them.  For me, there's been a little less of the social, although I've developed a close group of social friends.  But, they're people like me who are very dedicated to work and studying.”
 
Sterling said he's never doubted Lubek's dedication or his leadership ability.
 
“He's a natural born leader.  He leads by example. You never have to ask him to do something.  He knows the role of a tennis player at this level… this isn't high school tennis.  He commits.  He's the first to the weight room first to practice and always shows up on time.  He does what he says he'll do,” said Sterling.
 
And, Sterling has been impressed with Lubek's academic work ethic as well.
 
“He studies all the time.  On one road trip, he was sitting in the front seat studying organic chemistry.  He's either playing tennis or studying,” Sterling said.
 
Hobbies Lubek once enjoyed have suffered.  In high school he skied every weekend with friends and he loves to hike and backpack… generally be outdoors.  “I've done very little of that here and because of the academics involved in pre-med, I've spent most summers here taking classes. My hobby has been studying.  But when I go home, I spend most of the time outside,” he said.
 
Being at PSU also has been a cultural experience for Lubek.
 
“For three years, I roomed with someone from Vietnam.  The diversity on campus opened my mind, helping me understand different clutures and people.  That's been one of the special things about being in Portland,” Lubek said.
 
Looking back, Lubek said he wouldn't change a thing in his last four years.
 
“I wouldn't do anything different.  Certainly, it's been difficult at times with the commitment to athletics and the rigors of academics.  But, I love this.  I've lived a typical college life… just a little more intense than some.  I've had a constant drive to do well.  It's competitive, but medical school is competitive.  That's how it's supposed to be.  You give up sleep, not going to a party, spending less time downtown than you'd like, but it's all part of keeping your eye on the big picture,” he said.
 
Sterling has watched his progress with satisfaction.
 
“He's very smart.  Whatever he puts his mind to he'll achieve it.  If I had kids, I'd send them to him.  He'd be the best doctor around.”
 
And that judgment, by most measures, underscores a successful four-year journey by a college student-athlete.