“How do I do life?” The challenges of preparing student-athletes for professional roles

ABSTRACT Ensuring that student-athletes develop the competencies and skills needed to get jobs, not just degrees, after graduation is a responsibility that college athletic departments are trying to achieve through student-athlete support services. Past research has revealed concerns that student-athletes may lack practical work experiences given the time invested in their sports. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine what services are currently available to assist student-athletes in obtaining an internship and/or practicum, and the subsequent challenges that arise in getting student-athletes to utilize those services. Our findings show that student-athlete support service programming has advanced (e.g. job shadowing, mini-internships, student-athlete specific networking events, etc.) in efforts to provide creative and diverse experiential learning opportunities to student-athletes. Furthermore, our conversations highlighted the challenges student-athlete support service professionals encounter when working with student-athletes, coaches, and athletic administrators.