Over the past century student athletes have been ridiculed in division-1 as students who are just there to play sports rather than learn anything applicable to life. Coaches have been burned at the stake for allowing players to play when they are ineligible or to work out some agreement with teachers so that their star player can play in the bowl game. But really is this synonymous with all student athletes?
I was once told that the best student to hire right out of college was an athlete. They are typically the most mature of all students because they have lived their life trying to juggle two very important aspects to their lives. Education on top of sports, can and will make someone’s life miserable if they don’t see that the best things to this are the lessons you learn. Student athletes have to be on time to every meeting, every practice, and be respectful to coaches.
As a student athlete the first thing people talk to me about is the sport in which I played, but rather how impressed they are that I was able to complete a great deal of internships all the while playing sports. Spending an entire summer in Shanghai, China never ceases to amaze people.
The opportunities that exist for me as a student athlete are enormous in my view. A student athlete possesses numerous abilities that typical students do not learn. Leading, punctual, motivated are just some of the qualifications that cannot be taught to typical college students. I have always believed that student athletes have the ability to learn just about anything and in my case I believe I do. I believe that I can adapt to anything that is thrown at me and for this I am an opportunity for an employer.
