“Who in their right mind wants to live in Price , Utah (population 8,000 people)” was a popular comment made by many of my student athlete college teammates that were from much larger cites. Price had a Walmart , Sonic and a bunch of local shops you could only find in that town. I’ll never forget when my teammate from Philadelphia mentioned that “ All I need is a little excitement or chaos. Can we get at least a traffic jam or something.”
Living in Price was so much different from where many of us grew up that the goal was to play our sport, pass our classes and hurry up and get the heck out of the town to bigger and better things, or at least so we thought.
There was no argument amongst my coaches when it came to this type of mindset amongst myself and my teammates. There was never a conversation about getting plugged on campus, being social, finding internships or exploring the resources available to us both on a campus and in the community. Focusing on just the sport and classes was predictable, safe, and applauded. Going to social events were looked at as being unfocused, undisciplined and shouldn’t be a priority.
I wish I could say that mindset doesn’t exist anymore but that’s not true.
And let me tell you why that’s a problem.
Your rolodex (list of contacts ) will gain you more opportunities that you grade point average could ever dream of. The space on your resume that has your references is ten times larger than the spot of where you would include your grade point average. Don’t get me wrong, a great gpa is great for applying into graduate school / post secondary schools but it seldomly tips the scale on who gets the job and who doesn’t.
You know what does? Your network. The people you know and the people that know you. I have seen multiple times where a company interviews someone because its a formality and legally they have to do so but have already chosen who they’re going to offer the job to. As you climb of the ranks within your career, you’ll see this happen more often. I myself have benefited from this practice.
How does that make you feel? The fact that you can have the wrong major and have a lower gpa but still be considered. It’s typically only a problem when you’re not the person that’s getting hired. When knowing the right people get’s you the job it’s called networking. When not knowing the right people happens and someone else gets the job because of their contacts; it’s called politics.
If at the end of your career as a student athlete, the only people you can use as references is your coach, and your athletic director ; you’ve wasted your time. Fight the urge of speeding through school just to say you finished. Be intentional about connecting with people from all backgrounds. Yes even the NARPS (Non Athletic Regular People). Be social. What will be the legacy that you will leave with your school? If the only thing that can be said about you positively from the people on your campus is how well you perform in your sport; you’re in trouble. You’re more than that. What will the Dean of Students say about you? The President? The Vice Chancellor? Not only what will they say about you but can you call them and use them for a reference? Have you asked them to put you in contact with someone they know that works in the career you want to work in? If you’re asking yourself; “Who is that? Or Do we even have one of those at this college?”That’s a problem. If your friend group is only your teammates; we have another problem. But that’s okay because I have a free solution.
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