Student-Athlete Career Construction

During the twenty-first century, the American labor force has experienced considerable challenges. As the economy declined and the job market became increasingly unstable, the ways in which people constructed career identities also changed. Throughout career development literature, the higher education experience is viewed as a crucial time period for forming a sense of career identity and for choosing and preparing for a career. Although this period of time poses developmental challenges for all students, researchers highlight the fact that student-athletes, a specific subset of individuals nested within the general student body, face additional challenges in constructing meaningful career plans.

The qualitative study we focus on here used the method of multiple semi-structured interviews to look at the life experiences of 25 junior and senior student-athletes at a large mid- western university representing 19 sports. The purposes of this study were (a) to further understand the career aspirations of student-athletes who are approaching the transition to life after intercollegiate athletics and (b) to learn what life experiences have helped these individuals construct career identities as they explore, choose, and prepare for career fields.

Data analysis confirmed two previous findings in the literature about student-athlete development. First, participants confirmed that they faced an internal psychosocial struggle to balance the dual roles of student and athlete during their higher education experience. This role conflict was most prevalent in individuals who participated in the revenue-generating sports of men's hockey, men's basketball, and football. In addition, 20 of the 25 individuals expressed a desire to pursue a career in a sport-related role. Such findings confirm previous literature suggesting that student-athletes may fail to fully explore career opportunities outside of their predominant skill sets and activities (Adler & Adler, 1987; Baille & Danish, 1992; Chartrand & Lent, 1987; Danish, Petitpas, & Hale, 1993).

Second, student-athletes in this study shared that they were subjected to academic clustering, a practice that funnels student-athletes to specific majors in order to maintain their eligibility (Case, Greer, & Brown, 1987). Moreover, 17 of the 25 student-athletes interviewed noted that they changed their major direction after realizing the time commitment required by their sport. For example, student-athletes noted their inability to pursue time-intensive majors, such as education, or majors with high entrance requirements, such as business and kinesiology. They also said that their realization of the time commitment required by Division I athletics following their first year was a primary reason for pursuing a less laborious major. These findings confirm previous studies suggesting that the time commitment required by athletics participation influences student-athletes' drive to pursue meaningful degree paths (Case et al., 1987; Fountain & Finley, 2009, 2011; Renick, 1974).

Questions

1.Do you think academic clustering could start to develop within intercollegiate esports? If so, do the rules on academic eligibility need to be reassessed and changed?

2.Would collegiate esports be considered as a revenue-generating sport/program? If so, give examples of revenue that could be produced. If not, would this have a positive effect on academics or negative? Explain your decision.

3.Do you think there is a need to have a national wide study done on intercollegiate esports to help better understand player mindsets and how esports could affect the higher education? Give two examples of questions that could be asked during a survey taken by players during the study?