Life After Collegiate Sport: 10 Athlete Skills That Set You Up For Success

As a college athlete, your sport can be all consuming for 4 years of your life (and likely several more before you even headed to college) but for all but a few, professional sport doesn’t beckon us post college. And that can be a tough pill to swallow, a difficult transition from athlete life and identity, to ‘who the hell am I now?’ and ‘what do I do now?’ For anyone heading into the new academic year, already grappling with the knowledge that this will be the last year they are so immersed in their sport, I wanted to shout out a quick reminder that your sporting experience is valuable, in and out of your sport and what you have learned already, and will continue to learn and to practice in this final year, will be with you for a lifetime, and set you up for your career and life ahead.

Here’s what I know from my own experience as a retired athlete and as a sports psychology coach working with athletes pre and post retirement. Experienced athletes have these important life skills mastered:

1) They know how to set a goal

2) They can work towards a goal over days, weeks, months, and years

3) They know what it is to work hard, to manage discomfort, to stay dedicated

4) They’re familiar with working under pressure

5) They’ve learned how to handle their emotions like a boss

6) They’ve experienced failure

7) They’ve learned that failure offers growth opportunities

8) They know the value of receiving support and offering it to others

9) They can take and implement feedback from others

10) They can work as part of a team (yes, even the individual athletes have tons of experience working with a whole team – coaches, trainers, physios, nutrients etc – it takes a village!)