Most people think college athletics are all about football programs big enough to be considered cities, pay to play scandals and weekend blowouts that even The White House Party Crashers would be obliged to attend. Perhaps there are some truths to these perceptions because every other day the media breaks a story that depicts these athletes as benefit receiving, academic inept heathens that are strolling through their college experience on the back of a Budweiser truck in route to collecting that seven figure pay day. For the Reggie Bush’s in the world of intercollegiate athletics this is a reality, but for the other 380,000 student-athletes that are obtaining degrees and are planning to become contributing members of society, what they have learned through their respective sports are more applicable in the real world then most people can even fathom.
The dedication that it takes to be a collegiate athlete is second to none. Trying to balance the commitments to your team, a full-time student’s workload and everyday life can be overwhelming. Whether the athletes realize it or not, the character attributes they are taking from their unique college experience can stack up with even the most accomplished, prestigious internship obtaining, student government entrenched students as they battle head to head on the gridiron of big business.
Employers are looking for people who bring something unique to the table and employees are hoping they get somebody that will help them be more successful. What is more unique and attractive than a person who knows what it means to work for a common goal and function as part of a team? A person that knows how to listen to those in positions of power and accomplish the tasks that are asked of them. Somebody who can balance multiple things at once without feeling overwhelmed, while making the necessary sacrifices without complaint in order to be successful. Someone who knows how to put the team first, respect those around him or her, turn failure into success, and possess the ability to be teachable.
Is there skepticism in this argument? There shouldn’t be. Replace uniforms with suits, championship rings with meeting quotas, the field with cubicles, coaches with bosses, opponents with competitors, road series with business trips and you have somebody with more experience than even Oxford can provide.
For those of you that have been able to participate in intercollegiate athletics, continue to be grateful. Don’t fear the fact that you may not have as much work experience as your competitors because what you have learned over the past four years is a foundation that will allow you to be successful in all your endeavors. For those of you that have a misconception about athletes, don’t let ESPN blind you from the reality that these STUDENT- athletes have worked their entire lives to achieve a goal, the same work ethic that will be put into action in the board room.
This is a world that is obsessed with results, especially in a work environment. Athletes have been groomed to strive for results but have never taken the process of obtaining success lightly. Athletics teaches you a lot about life, but they also produce unique and successful business persons long after they hang up the cleats, whether anybody realizes it or not.
- Josh Reed
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