10 Things Your First-Year Student-Athletes Need to Know!
Don Philabaum
Entrepreneur, career and professional development author, speaker & expert on the use of technology, Meta, AI. Passionate about emerging NIL industry supporting student-athlete career success!
Freshmen student-athletes need to create a CAREER GAME plan!
Nearly every college in the United States has implemented a strategy developed over 40 years ago by Dr. John Gardner from South Carolina State University called the First-Year Experience. (FYE)
The First-Year Experience program was designed to give students who were transitioning from high school to college the knowledge, skills, and confidence they needed to step into their new lives as independent young adults and help them overcome the uncertainty, anxiety, stress, exhaustion, and homesickness they were experiencing. Research proved the program increased student retention which resulted in increased tuition and room and board revenue!
The FYE program has been so successful that most colleges have either created a department dedicated to managing it, or have one person within the admissions or orientation office responsible for planning, coordinating, and implementing events, activities, and programs.
In a recent discussion with Christopher Sarver, a sports marketing agent, Chris and I discussed how these issues affect student-athletes. We quickly realized student-athletes have even more to deal with because they have to jump right in and compete for a position on their team, begin to build trusting relationships with new coaches who have different demands than their high school coaches, learn new plays, while at the same time fit in the responsibilities of a student-athlete that includes practice, weight training, team meetings, and games!
On top of that they need to learn how to essentially start their own business by building a personal brand and establishing a personal network/audience. But that's not all. Student-athletes now have to continually create content to entertain their network, while at the same time reach out to sponsors, advertisers, and brands! Whew!
It’s no wonder few freshmen student-athletes invest any time in exploring career opportunities, reach out to mentors, or even start applying for internships.
Your alma mater’s collective or athletic department can FIX this!
Your alma mater should consider starting a First-Year Student-Athlete Career Experience. Modeled after the First Year Experience program we've been discussing, the goal of the program would be to give incoming freshmen an understanding of the importance of investing time in their careers, while at the same time learn what they need to do to take advantage of the enormous financial opportunities the rapidly changing NIL industry offers.
Knowing college athletic directors, coaches, and collective administrators have their hands full and don’t have the time to create a formal program around this, we went ahead and assembled some of the world’s brightest career and NIL professionals and created a program that offers professional advice, curriculum, and tools first-year student-athletes can tap into at anytime, through any advices.
Our First-Year Student-Athlete Career Experience program will give student-athletes free access to thoughtful, relevant, and timely TEDTalk length presentations and tools including:
A Career Readiness Assessment Evaluation
Career Exploration Strategies
Tips on Creating a LinkedIn Page
Fundamental Components of a Career Plan
Strategies to Find and Engage Mentors
Techniques to Acquire Internships
Overview on Services Your Career Center Offers
Introduction to Managing Finances
Keeping Health and Wellbeing in Balance.
Quick Introduction to NIL
The program gives parents a free subscription to the College Career Club where they can participate in webinars, reports, and download a copy of the ebook The Unemployed Grad, And What Parents Can Do About It.
Interested in learning more? Leave a comment or email [email protected]