For Wollongong Hawks captain Oscar Forman, balancing study and sport once meant sitting an exam in his team uniform before a game.
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Forman is now studying commerce at the University of Wollongong, where some courses have introduced a degree of flexibility so athletes can play and study.
For Forman it's a far cry from what he previously had to go through as a studying sportsman.
"Over a decade ago, when I was playing for Adelaide, we had a game in Townsville and I had an exam that had to be sat at a certain time," Forman said.
"That time turned out to be just before the game. Our hotel was adjoined to the stadium. So I sat in my hotel in my uniform, taped up and ready to play, and sat a three-hour exam and then ran across to the game."
On Tuesday at UOW, Forman launched a new course in the international bachelor of science degree - sport and movement science.
It offers plenty of flexibility to work around athletes' training and playing schedules, as well as one-on-one mentoring from senior academic staff.
It's not in Forman's faculty but, on his previous studying experiences, he can understand the value of the flexibility.
"I was studying full-time and it got to a point where you either do full-time uni or full-time basketball and you move to your passion, basketball, and uni takes a back seat," he said.
"As that went on, I passed some courses and failed others and I found it really difficult to balance both because both were very demanding.
"It would have been fantastic to have a program like this when I started. It would have made things a lot easier, instead of me deferring, failing subjects and then quitting for nearly a decade before I came back on board."
Associate Dean (International) of UOW's Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, Associate Professor Marc in het Panhuis said the new course would work in with sportspeople's schedules.
"The keyword for this course is flexibility - it enables students to pursue sporting and academic aspirations," Prof in het Panhuis said.
It had had wide support, he said.
But Forman said people didn't need to be playing sport to benefit from a flexible degree.
"It's not limited to athletes," he said.
"I'm sure there will be a lot of people working full-time or looking after children and want to go back to uni who are going to need special circumstances and this degree will be perfect for that," he said.