Most shooters step to the free-throw line with a pre-shot routine, and Baquer Sayed is no different. That ritual doesn’t change whether it’s early in the first quarter or the game is on the line.

The guard from Fordson High School takes a few deep breathes, dribbles the ball three times and then lets the ball go. The two-star athlete approaches other facets of his life similarly … in the classroom, particularly.

“It’s the same thing with tests,” Sayed said. “I focus on what’s ahead of me.”

For any student, testing can be anxiety-inducing exercises. But Sayed and the rest of his basketball teammates have thrived on pressure situations to make the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan’s Academic All-State Team. The 2008-09 Tractors’ grade point average was 3.116.

“That makes me happy because we’re doing something right,” said former coach turned Fordson Athletic Director Jeff DelGiudice.

With a 3.72 GPA and a body and mind battle tested from years of basketball and football, tests are no big deal to Sayed.

“I’m already used to the pressure,” he said. “There’s pressure when I’m playing basketball or football and my family’s watching. There’s pressure on me from my family and coaches to do well in the classroom too.”

It’s that way with Jamal Williams, center for last season’s team.

“I maintain my GPA because of my parents,” he said. “They push me so I can have a future. Also, I want to play, so I have to do well in school.”

All students are different, and all test-takers are different. But feedback from coaches and athletes themselves show that those who build their bona fides in front of hostile crowds with the clock waning in a tie game can apply lessons learned to test taking.

While the hands begin to shake for some, and the sweat begins to trickle for others, those who thrive on the fire merely zero in.

“Success breeds success,” DelGuidice said. “If you’re successful, you want to continue that and get better. That hard work translates into the classroom.”

DelGuidice should know. He’s coached hundreds of athletes. “Some kids are successful in athletics because of the way they work and budget their time. These kids lead the way. We have a lot of good students who are good athletes.”

Based on what DelGuidice has seen at his school and what players tell us, the traits that make an athlete succeed on the court permeate everything.

“(Basketball) helps me to be more organized and disciplined, and gives me more confidence,” said Yusef Naser, who has seen a direct link between his numbers on the court and in the classroom. “I fell to a 3.0 and I never scored much during my freshman season. But my coaches pressed me to be more aggressive and take charge, which made me score more.”

Naser excels now in school because he has trained himself to be aggressive in the classroom, where his GPA has rocketed to 3.60.

Stress? Players admit they feel it during games. But when they sit down for some high-stakes testing, they can chill, Baquer Sayed said.

“When you’re in the classroom, you’re used to the pressure and working hard because of what you do on the court.”