I walk in the weight room and our best player is breakdancing in the middle of the floor. He’s easily the best player we have. A mountain of a man ,standing at 6 ft 7 and a half and about 240 pounds. Buttery soft touch jump shot. Broad shoulders and faster than his size would suggest.
Before you scoff at his size and compare him to someone larger. Understand he gave a certain 7 foot NBA Player 27 points (DeAndre Jordan) when we played him at Texas A & M University. We were a Division 2 school by the way.
Fast forward to the end of the season and that same player is doing P 90X, lifting continuously and watching what he’s eating. Why? Is it because he’s getting ready for the next season? Nope. Not at all. Last season was his last season. He’s a senior. Why is he in there working out ; I have no idea. But it’s par for the course when it comes to many student athletes who find themselves freshly into being a normal person again and no longer a collegiate student athlete.
They’re still at the age where they still have the energy , interest and the strength to do the things they once did as a student athlete but lack the fanfare. What better way to show people you still got it, than to remind them of their athletic ability?
I never understood that. Why not max out your effort and work ethic when it actually matters? When you are an actual student athlete.
He’s not the only former student athlete that regrets not putting their all into their sport. It’s quite common.
I have problems just like the next former collegiate athlete, trying to find my place in the world after my sport but regretting that I would have worked harder is not one of them. I was a first one in the gym , last one to leave guy. I was the running hills in the sweltering heat guy. I was even the high school player that showed up to practice with a weight vest under my jersey. A little over the top in my approach but having done so , I can walk away not having any regrets… at least when it comes to my sport.
My regrets are little more subtle but in my opinion more relevant when it comes to life after being a collegiate student athlete. I want to make sure you’re aware of this regret so you can avoid the negative impact of not taking care of this while you’re a collegiate student athlete.
My main regret is I didn’t leverage the attention I had while being a collegiate student athlete in a way that set me up for a career after my collegiate career was over. What I understand is the attention that you naturally have on a college campus has a shelf life. Understand that you are NOT a non perishable food item. You are more like a open container of yogurt or milk. You are an ONLY FANS MODEL that happens to have a jersey on. They tolerate you because your young ,willing and you have the attention of a large amount of people. It’s advantageous to say you know someone that many people just know of.
You have attention. Attention can be monetized and cashed in if you know how to do it. Because what’s attention just for attention sake. Especially when the attention won’t last long?
The great thing about sports is that it attracts people from all walks of life and from all career industries. This is something that you may not realize while being a student athlete but it is by far the most important and has the largest lasting effect of anything else you’re doing as a student athlete.
It’s been 13 years since I was a collegiate student athlete and nobody has ever asked me about my grade point average or my stats in more sport. It’s like I never played. The biggest thing that matters at this point is the network I’m a part of . Who I know and who knows me. Seems silly but I have witnessed those things be the single factor or how someone got hired and someone did not. I have seen this be the the reason someone got to keep their job and someone else that lacks that network get fired.
Is it fair? Not in the least bit. But is it something that goes on and impacts every career industry? You better believe it!
When I was a college student athlete if you didn’t throw a ball, catch a ball, chase someone else with a ball, shot a ball and or was chased with the ball in your hand; I didn’t talk to you. Not because I didn’t like you but because we probably weren’t around each other long enough for me to talk to you. I was always on the way to sweat, coming back from sweating or stretching so I was loose enough to sweat again.
I didn’t invest in the human side of being a student in college. Having a social life was looked at as being unfocused. I was told early on that my focus should be my sport and school (in that order). I missed out on connecting with others. Not just my peers. Professors , Director of Departments, people in the community , Presidents and more. The crazy thing about it is, many of these people would have been happy to meet if I would have done my part.
The problem with that is ,now as a former student athlete; I have less opportunities to advance based off my network than those that were more social along the way. I’m not saying you should meet people just to potentially benefit from them in them in the future. I’m saying don’t sacrifice being social and enjoying your experience, guilt free.
Imagine if I would have leveraged my time of being a student athlete and called people in the industry that I wanted to work in. What if I would have invited them to a game, signed some jersey for the kids? You think they would have helped me get a free or maybe even a paid internship in their industry that I could have used in finding my first job out of college?
I need you to adopt this mindset and start reaching out!
Just a little reminder for collegiate student athletes to get out there and meet people from all walks of life. Even the ones that don’t play or even care about sports. You’ll be in a much better position career wise.
Trust me.
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