"RITA THE RELUCTANT": I hung around too many sports nuts that squashed other topics of conversation and read too many comic books. Four years of that stuff and now I think of myself as dumb. I'm afraid to talk with anyone I consider smarter than myself, which seems to be just about everyone. I'm about to graduate and lose even my athlete friends. What's a dummy like me to do?
Answer to Rita: You blew it in college, Rita. But you still have a shot at being one of "the smart ones." Your willingness to admit your fear is the big sign that you want to change. We recommend that you take risks that are manageable, small steps out of the starting block to maintain your balance. (Yes, you are still in the starting block after four years.) After you build some momentum, you can stretch out your stride.
Attend self-help courses; talk with people whom you see as one step above your level. Mix with people, including other athletes, who have interesting things to say. Above all, understand that even though you got off to a late start, it's never too late to catch up. In the career race, many people can win; the race is only over for you when you decide to give up.
Avoid both extremes of people-the muscle-heads who only rehash yesterday's contest or complain about the coach and the high-powered intellectuals who are so impressed with themselves that they talk everyone into a corner. A few months of experience with ordinary folks who cross areas of life away from the sports arena will make you feel like a new person, and will show you that, yes indeed, you can function in the real world.
"FAST BUCKS FREDDIE": I see so much money being made in sports that it seems stupid to consider doing anything else as a career. Why should I work for a living when I can play? If I don't make it as a player, maybe I can organize sports events-anything to stay close to where the money is.
Answer to Old "Fast Bucks": There's a little "Fast Bucks" in all of us. This is not so much a personal deficiency, Freddie, as it is your overwhelming desire to get on the gravy train. You simply are unwilling to believe that anything else might compete with what you see as your golden opportunity.
You are right about the riches that await a few people who mine the sports world. But it takes more luck than talent to be one of those rare people who strike pay dirt. You have to allow for the facts of life in sports: franchises die, even whole sports leagues die, players get injured, strikes occur, and darned few people earn an income from sports for more than a small handful of years. Women's professional basketball and softball, professional track and field, team tennis, professional coed volleyball-the professional sports graveyard is littered with "sure things."
If you still want to give it a try after understanding all this, in the immortal words of Rocky Balboa, "Go for it!" Nothing is sacred about working 9-to-5 in a "normal" job. Try your luck and don't second-guess yourself. But be prepared to accept the likelihood that you'll have a hard time making money at all, much less fast bucks. Nobody makes easy money. Scratch someone who has become an overnight success and you'll probably find a person who worked 100-hour weeks, or slaved for years, or suffered many failures along the way, or all of the above.
"NEVER-MADE-IT NORBERT": For every name in the newspapers, there are 1,000 of me. Even when I don't get cut from the squad, I never see much action. I have to explain to friends why my uniform never gets dirty and why I'm on campus when the team is travelling. I train hard, try hard, have some ability, and eat the right foods, but never get beyond the sideline. My feeling of failure is causing me to have doubts about my job and career prospects. Are my failures in sports trying to tell me something? Is a loser a loser in everything?
Answer to Norbert: If being a success in college sports were a reliable indicator of future achievement, the top corporations would hire only varsity lineups and most politicians would be ex-jocks. Neither, however, is true. You'll find varsity heroes in the gutter, and third-stringers in the board rooms. The marketable qualities that athletics breeds are available to all members of the team, not just those in the starting lineup. The primary effect of collegiate sports is to produce for all who compete-with dedication, willingness to learn, and enthusiasm-qualities that are valued in work. You obviously have dedication and persistence, and these traits will show in your favor when you are involved in a career, where people are not seen as either winners or losers, but rather as good or bad workers and leaders. All members of a working team can win, and unlike sports where only one team or person can be champ, many organizations in the same field can be considered winners.
"FOOTLOOSE FRIEDA": Competing in sports is such a rollercoaster ride; I don't ever want to get off. Even if I won't ever be a millionaire, I want to live like one-taking trips, being taken care of, seeing important people, and having them care about what I do-just like it's been in college sports. Athletics can provide such a millionaire lifestyle and pace that anything else seems dull as dishwater by comparison. The idea of a 9-to-5 existence makes me sick. I know I'm jaded about the real world and unrealistic about the sports world, but I love it.
Answer to Frieda: We're as much in favor of an exciting life as anyone. Boredom is the worst curse of the working world. However, realize that your present high lifestyle has been supported by your college, which believes that your success on the field in some way has something to do with higher learning. Face it: that party is going to end. This doesn't mean the fun ends, only that the game changes. Be ready for the change and roll with it-if you want to continue enjoying life. Before the collegiate party ends, work on developing talents that someone in the work world wants. The more talents you have to offer, the farther you will go in a career, and the more fun and excitement you will have.
In the dual life you lead as a student-athlete, it's not your association with the sport that is marketable as much as it is the obstacles you overcome, in order to keep competing in your sport, while at the same time prospering as a student. Being able to do both things well has set you on the path to your future success. This is your bridge from college to career.
Athletics has as much carryover to other careers as anything else you might have done outside the classroom-probably more. However, if you allow athletics to isolate you from the mainstream of thought and experience in your college, making you feel like an alien in non-athletic areas, you have largely yourself to blame. You've allowed yourself to be defeated by the very thing-your athletic experience-that could have made you special and particularly attractive to employers.
Right now you are surrounded by one of the most intelligent, creative, and socially concerned groups of individuals-a campus community-that you may ever be close to. You have easier access to the members of this community than you ever will have to any similar group of people in the future. Take full advantage of their stimulation, interest, and knowledge. Make yourself more than just an athlete, and let both college and your special athletic experience lead you into success beyond college.
