May 5th, 2020 will mark the 4th anniversary of the last time I played in a meaningful lacrosse game. On May 21st, 2020 I’ll be celebrating the end of my time being a student-athlete and entering the real world. I have devoted much of my time since 2nd grade playing sports. The transition to not being competitively active daily has been interesting, to say the least. Here are some of the things I’ve heard and experienced during my transition from being a student-athlete to adapting to the real world.
Being a Student-Athlete Will Improve Your Chances of Finding a Job.
Half True – Mostly False. I remember being on recruiting visits with coaches telling me about playing lacrosse can open doors for me in terms of job opportunities. That statement is half true. If you played on a team in the Ivy-League or a prestigious school like Notre Dame with an extensive alumni network you are in good hands. However, for the vast majority of us, your college team most likely has a limited connection available to you. Instead of having a door open, your school has cracked the window for you. You have an extracurricular activity on your resume, the way you leverage that is up to you.
Employers Love to Hire Student-Athletes
“Member of X College Lacrosse Team”. That was on my resume. I’ve gone on quite a few interviews and the interviewer only brought it up twice. On one occasion, the recruiter said her son played my school and hated my school. I didn’t get a call back from that company.
The notion of student-athletes is the preferred type of worker is completely untrue unless you work in a position where you determine your own success like sales. Sales recruiters love athletes because they have the drive and determination to reach their goals.
For most non-commissioned based occupations, recruiters could care less if you scored the overtime goal during the national championship. They look for hard skills. Coding, Excel formulas, open-heart surgery are some of the skills they are desiring. They look for what you can do for the company not what you did in the past. Now, I am not suggesting you remove all mention of your college athlete days from your resume, don’t make it your platform to stand on during interviews.
“I am going to play this sport forever.”
You still got the moves. You’re still in shape. The determination to play the game you love is still there. For a select lucky few, this is possible. But the rest of us, we’ll eventually hit a point of athletic regression or simply life will get in the way.
In my experience, it took 3 years after I graduated for this to hit me. I played in a few post-collegiate lacrosse leagues and tournaments. With each year that went by, I was noticing how difficult it was for me to play. I was getting older and the competition was getting younger. Plays that were easy to make back then were now turning into a struggle. When games started to get physical, I found myself thinking “I have to go to work on Monday, this isn’t worth it“. Right then and there I knew my time was up and now it was time for the next generation to shine.
Being a Student-Athlete Will Put You at a Disadvantage.
Anyone knows that playing sports requires a lot of commitment outside of the classroom. You’ll miss classroom time either practicing, traveling or playing games. The general stereotype is that we’re all jocks with no brains. Student-athletes have a clear and distinct advantage compared to graduates that had normal college experience. We’re very disciplined and are more efficient with our time.
I have been waking up every day at or before 6:00 am since my freshman year of college. If I have to be somewhere at a certain time, I am there 10 minutes before getting mentally prepared for what I have to do. Health-wise, I cannot go a week without going to a gym multiple times and taking care of my body. Even on the days that I am tired from work. We are dedicated to our various crafts and can handle everything that life throws at us better than most normal people.
The Transition From Being a Student-Athlete is Going to be Easy.
News flash. It’s not going to be. You are going to miss the big plays. Those plaques on the wall will bring up memories when you were the star during your sophomore year. You’ll give everything to go back and lace up the cleats one more time. But with all good things in life. They have to come to an end and you have to move on. You need to assess the most important things in your life after sports which should be yourself. Your financial, emotional, and physical well-being.
You need to put yourself in a position to succeed in life. Give yourself the best opportunity to make the most money as possible and work hard at that. Save and invest your money. Stimulate the mind by picking up a new or old hobby. Enjoy time with friends and family. These are all things that most likely weren’t taught to you during your time playing competitive sports.
Closing Thought
I catch myself from time to time missing lacrosse. I honestly don’t miss playing. My time has passed. I miss the early morning workouts. I miss the long bus rides when the catering company massacres the sandwich orders and the entire back of the bus is complaining. I long for another opportunity to psych myself out before a run test. I wish I can go back and play the away games were I was getting chirped by the home team student section all game.
All of these things I think about sometimes, but then I remember I am in the present. No one is going to take away that from me. What can be taken away from me if I dwell too much in the past? My future.
