If you’ve been following along, then you remember two statistics from an earlier post about the need to pay attention to other areas than just athletics. I want to explain this a little bit, and add more to it.
Michael Jordan does TV commercials for Hanes. Steve Young and Deion Sanders are sports commentators. Many professional athletes get deals like these after they’ve become a big name in their respective sport. When they retire, they work for these other companies to continue making money. Chances are we’re not going to have these terrific opportunities that these people do, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make athletics work for us.
Playing sports in high school, college, and beyond opens a lot of doors. One of the best ways to make athletics work for you is to use it to open up education opportunities that might not be available to you otherwise. Scholarship money can be a big factor when determining a college to attend, and it can allow you to choose one you might not be able to afford otherwise.
Other ways you can use sports to benefit you are to use the connections you make on your team. Teammates, coaches, etc, can be used for references, they can clue you into job opportunities, and so forth. It doesn’t even need to be related to business. Sports can help you develop a strong working ethic, a positive attitude, and a multitude of other things. Athletics can help you even in everyday conversations.
It doesn’t really matter how you make sports work for you, as long as you benefit from playing in some way. You should also have an idea of what you’re going to do when you’re no longer playing.
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