What to do After Hanging Up the Cleats
Hanging up the cleats can be incredibly tough. This article will advise on how to make the most productive transition.
By Xavier Royer — March 27, 2023
Some high school athletes will make it to the next level. Even outside the big NCAA Division I programs that offer full scholarships, many high school athletes find a place on a team and a partial scholarship playing for smaller schools. For most college students, however, this is not the case. Hanging up the cleats can be incredibly tough. Many students' athletic careers representing a community end their senior year. Students use sports to help build their identity, and no longer being able to practice or compete leaves a vacuum in their lives that can be awkward to maintain. This article will advise on how to make the most productive transition, using my story as a hopefully helpful anecdote.
Intramurals: Pros and Cons
Intramurals are awesome but come with some caveats. They are a natural replacement for high school sports because they allow students to continue the sport they enjoy. This is true to the extent that basketball players can keep playing competitively. Unfortunately, many students find that what they appreciate about the sport or their attitude toward it is not reflected in intramurals. For example, students take wildly different mentalities towards intramurals. Some want to replicate that varsity atmosphere as closely as possible and come with a very competitive mentality. Others may be just trying a sport out for the first time, and even stepping on the court is a big milestone.
Most people fall in the middle somewhere. Coming with the wrong mentality can dampen the experience. Intramurals were fun, and I loved playing basketball with new friends. What I eventually came to realize was that more than basketball, I missed consistent competition. Four basketball games a year and a playoff tournament just weren't enough for me to get my fix. I also missed the iterative nature of improving at something. No matter how seriously someone takes intramurals, they probably are not practicing multiple times a week and working to improve consistently. Intramurals can be fun, but the sport alone is often not enough to fulfill those who want that feeling of improvement. There is also a matter of the stage. Many enjoyed the crowd's roar and the performance aspect of high school sports. Even if your s/o comes to watch, it does not mimic a student section of your classmates.
Enter... Extracurriculars
My tale is a cautionary one to some extent. I turned to games like FIFA, Overwatch, Starcraft 2, and even weekly Magic: the Gathering tournaments for my rush of competition. Each game has a ranking system where I could look at my progress as I improved and climbed the ladder. The Magic: the Gathering tournaments also gave me the performance opportunity, as making the final cut was always a big deal and came with its unique sort of nerdy street cred. The devastation I felt leaving a tournament after a bad performance felt much like a loss from a basketball or soccer game, and I would stay up late those nights workshopping ideas for the following week. I do not regret any of these activities because I think it was important for me to scratch that itch healthily, and gaming was a fine outlet. However...
JOIN A CLUB
...I should have found a campus club to compete through. Chess, debate, and even esports teams are found throughout campuses nationwide—some even offer scholarships. If a student is hellbent on athletics, club sports also exist. These are great. I would simply caution students from jumping to that conclusion before considering some of the "nerdier" options. Especially if entering one of these clubs or teams with no experience, putting oneself out there can be daunting.
However, I would reframe the lack of experience as a positive. My basketball ability has reached a peak — not only am I only ever going to get older and slower with creakier knees and back problems, but I also have to deal with all the bad habits I've picked up over nearly two decades. Take the wisdom you learned from doing your given sport over however many years. Now imagine you can get a fresh start. I started a Model UN team this year on campus. While our lack of experience showed at times, my students noticed an advantage from approaching the rules and systems with a fresh perspective. It can be cool to pick up something new.
Additionally, clubs ARE representing the university. If what you have been craving is properly representing a community again in a competitive way, clubs can be your chance to do so. Similarly, university club competitions get real. Schools that don't come ready to compete typically wash out quickly. This raising of stakes can benefit former athletes, as it is a green light to go all out.
University clubs competing with other schools are the closest match to high school varsity sports outside the official school teams. For those that want to mirror that experience as closely as possible, I highly recommend going out and finding one that would be interesting. Even if you've hit your last home run, giving that debate team a chance still offers an opportunity to fill that hole.
Xavier Royer
I am currently a full time instructor at a William Penn University, a small private university in Iowa. I am the lone political science faculty member there. In my time teaching, I have already connected with an incredible cohort of students in ways I could never have expected. Partnering with SAGE will allow me the opportunity to help even more students across the globe navigate those tricky questions.
What Extracurriculars Are Right for Your Ninth Grader?
May 16, 2024
Welcome Back: Campus Leadership Qualities
August 3, 2023
