Balling Onward: Athlete To Successful Business Person

Reasons why a student-athlete is your best candidate in a business organization

When those who are not student-athletes do think about student-athletes and what they have done during their college careers, there is often a negative connotation. I have heard things and even read statements in research about student-athletes that is just super trash.  Some of the most ignorant ones feel like they “get over” in classes, they don’t apply themselves, they are given passing grades just because they are an athlete, they don’t care about school, they aren’t smart, they aren’t committed, they are lazy in class and so much more. Please don’t let hatin’ comments or one experience you have had with one lazy student who played sports allow you to put this negative label on all student-athletes because you wouldn’t do the same to a rich kid who is in a class because his daddy is a billionaire (I’m just saying). Please don’t let something you have heard about student-athlete’s behavior in classes deter you from really understanding who we are.

Let me share with you what it really is: A good student-athlete is someone who is willing to put in the extra work to be the best they can be. A good student athlete is one who will put their team before themselves. A good student-athlete is one who takes constructive criticism. A good student-athlete is one who makes good decisions under pressure. A student-athlete is a leader in all situations (inside and outside of sports).

Here is why a student-athlete can add to a professional organization:

A student-athlete is required to meet deadlines despite all their responsibilities as a student and an athlete. When I was a student-athlete, a day in off season meant double days and classes all summer long. We would have a workout at 5:30am so that we could get it in before everyone’s morning classes started. Work outs in the morning usually range from about 5:30am-7:00am. Stretching after workouts was usually not included in the conditioning workout time that was accounted for. Some of us would have time to maybe take a shower and go to class but others would have so little bit of time that we had to go straight to class before showering. After classes, we would have our “practice practice.” As we all know, there are NCAA regulations about the amount of time that you are supposed to spend on the court. We also know that coaches are smart enough to work around those rules. For example, we may only be allowed to spend 3 hours on the court for practice, but the only time accounted for is the time that you spend on the court with your team and your coaches. This does not include the time that your coaches “insist” that you use prior to and after practice to work on your shot, the time that you have to warm up and stretch with your strength and conditioning coach, and the time it takes to get any treatment that you may have for injuries or sore muscles with your trainer.   After long and exhausting days of practice and practice outside of practice (lol), a student-athlete still has to study what was taught in class for the day and the rest of the week, prep for their upcoming test, and write all of the essays they have due. If a student-athlete doesn’t do the work that is required for school, they would be ineligible to continue to compete in their sport. Therefore, it is not a choice – like many make it out to be when talking about the student-athlete group.

How is this job related: Politicians often reference the large amount of Americans who work for someone else and do not own their own business. If you are working for someone else or if you have your own business, deadlines are always important. A student-athlete’s responsibility to compete athletically at a high level and to stay on task in school demonstrates their dedication to meet all required deadlines and commit to doing above and beyond what is required to improve & multitask while doing it. In a business setting, the best performers are those who are willing to commit to their organization and improving their skill (like student-athlete’s commit to their university), willingness to go above and beyond the standard roles and responsibility (like a student-athlete must do in order to outwork others they compete against), and those who are self-driven to be the best (like most completive student-athletes).

A student-athlete must be able to perform under pressure. In a basketball game when there is 2 seconds left in the game and your team is down by 1 point. What decision do you make? Keep in mind this is the last game of the season if you don’t win and everyone is aware that if your team does win, you will have an opportunity to receive a spot in the NCAA tournament. You have the ball in your hand and you decide to get to the cup. When you get to the bucket, you go up strong while focusing on making the basket and also not allowed someone to take a charge. You go up strong and get fouled. The horn goes off as you get fouled. The ref blows the whistle right on time to allow for the chance to shoot two free throws. The pressure is high but you have to make two free throws to get that last chance to make it to the NCAA tournament. You breathe in and out, dribble twice, and shoot the first free throw. You make it. You take a breath of relief understanding that now the game is tied up so either way it goes for the next free throw (make or miss), you will at least go into overtime. For the next free throw, there is a little less pressure, but you still know in the back of your mind that if you make this last free throw, you will win the game and make it to the “Big Dance.” You do the same routine as the first free throw – Breath in, breath out, dribble twice and shoot. You make the second free throw and you win the game. Your team wins!! This is only one small segment of the entire game filled with the need to make smart decisions under pressure. A larger decision that must be made is the decision to go to classes in order to maintain grades even if you are exhausted from morning workouts and practices and putting in the extra time.  For those who were able to receive their degree as a student-athlete, you did that!

How is this job related: YOU WILL FACE ADVERSITY AT WORK! In every organization there will be times when things get rough. There can be issues with the budget, their can be staff members who do not get along, there can be unethical behavior. Adversity happens everywhere and when having to make decisions under difficult circumstances, a student-athlete can most likely take any kind of adversity coming their way. I was just speaking with my sister who was a former women’s basketball player as well. I asked her if she had ever been in a meeting and broke down under pressure with work related issues. We both agreed that that had never happened. A big part of why it hasn’t is because of what we were trained to face under pressure as a student-athlete.

TEAM TEAM TEAM! Student-athletes strive in team environments because they have been a part of a team for so long.  It doesn’t come to surprise that an effective team is what drives an organization. The great Vince Lombardi said, “Individual commitment to a group effort–that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” The great Michael Jordan said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Andrew Carnegie said, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” And Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” I have worked for three different organizations in my professional career and the ones that had the best results, had the strongest teams.

How is that job related: I have had co-workers who didn’t truly understand the meaning of “team.” They didn’t realize how their selfish actions effected the entire unit. They didn’t understand that sacrificing some of their own time to train a member of their staff (no matter if it was their job or not), would essentially help the team. A former student-athlete, on the other hand, lives and breathes team. Most likely, if they are late to practice, they are not the only one who has to run suicides. The whole team does. Student-athletes live for peer and team accountability and must practice having accountability for their own actions, knowing that their own actions effect their entire team.

All three of these reasons and many others create not only a strong candidate for a business, but a leader. Student-athletes who dedicate themselves bring with them leadership qualities. They WILL be an asset to your business team! You want a strong player to add to your organization? Then you may want to look into qualities of a former athlete. Hire you a champ! Let’s get it!