Maybe you're strategizing how to fit athletics into a busy college schedule. Perhaps you're hedging on whether or not to play a sport because you're concerned it will interfere with academics or essential extracurriculars. But have you considered how playing college sports makes you a better job candidate or graduate school applicant?

At Gustavus Adolphus College, over a quarter of our students participate in NCAA athletics. As a Division III school, we foster a student-centered athletic experience, balancing competitive intercollegiate sports with a rich liberal arts education. Playing college sports isn't just an exciting extracurricular; it's a sustained commitment that shapes character, builds discipline, extends your professional network, and adds to a well-rounded resume. With almost two dozen varsity sports offerings and state-of-the-art training facilities, we prioritize athletics because we see the value it brings to our students.

What does college athletics have to do with getting a job? Keep reading for examples of how playing sports can help boost your success after graduation.

You gain skills that transfer to professional work.

Incoming college students tend to focus on academic achievement, especially if they're on a graduate school track. Whether you're headed for grad school or directly into the workforce after graduation, classroom metrics are only one measure of a successful college career. Co-curricular and extracurricular activities often contribute just as much to your growth and development, including building practical skill sets that can't be cultivated fully in a classroom setting.

Playing intercollegiate sports pushes student-athletes to develop several key skills that translate to virtually any professional work environment:

• Time management and organization. Part of being an effective professional is learning to use organizational tools that work for you. Coordinating classes, practices, and other extracurricular commitments pushes student-athletes to develop excellent time management skills. Four years of developing your organizational strategy means you graduate college with a working knowledge of how to prioritize tasks, focus your energy, and keep track of many moving parts.

• Teamwork and collaboration. Playing on a team pushes student-athletes to navigate group dynamics successfully, including in high-pressure situations. This includes developing great communication skills and the ability to work well with a wide variety of people. Long-term collaboration with a team is essential to success in almost any workplace, and it isn't a skill you'll exercise in most classroom settings, making sports especially valuable in this respect.

• Discipline and work ethic. Playing a sport is hard work, and daily training demands an exceptional commitment from student-athletes. Running drills are repetitive, there is often no instant gratification, and some days, everything about your practice seems to go wrong. Sticking it out over time, though, brings rewards and reinforces your drive to keep showing up and doing the work, just as you'll need to do in your professional career.

• Decision-making and performance under pressure. Competitive athletic activities require you to perform under pressure and, quite literally, think on your feet. Student-athletes learn to tune out distractions, master their anxiety, and focus on the immediate task at hand. They learn to anticipate and prepare for various circumstances in order to react quickly and make good split-second decisions. These skills prepare you for professional demands such as meeting difficult project deadlines and facing periodic crisis situations calmly.

In many ways, playing sports in college operates just like having a job. You show up every day on time, focus on a set of strategic tasks, and work hard with other people toward a joint goal. Each aspect of your athletic training and competition helps prepare you for a professional career.

Playing sports enhances resumes and job interviews.

Wherever you're headed next, an intercollegiate sports career adds to your list of accomplishments and signals your dedication and follow-through. College athletics also contributes directly to the application process. Here are just a few ways playing sports can bring value to your post-graduation pursuits:

• Your sports experiences are great conversation topics. In job or school interviews you'll be asked to give examples of how you've overcome challenges, responded to difficult situations, and worked with other people effectively to get things done. Four years of college athletics gives you a set of compelling stories to draw on and adds another dimension to the conversation.

• Any recognition or awards you receive in the course of your college sports career add value to your resume, demonstrating hard work above and beyond the discipline inherent in your athletic commitment.

• Playing college sports offers opportunities for leadership and service, both on the team and in the wider community. Division III teams such as those at Gustavus regularly engage with the local community in capacities such as service projects or youth sports clinics. Volunteer roles like coaching or mentoring kids are enriching experiences that also set you apart in your applications and interviews.

• A diligent college sports career earns you great professional references. Your coach or coaches have observed you closely and can write powerful letters of recommendation vouching for your character and work ethic.

Overall, playing a college sport improves your resume and opens doors to activities that add even more value. For instance, Student Athlete Volunteer Educators at Gustavus design and implement programming to educate fellow students on healthy lifestyle choices. Collaborations like SAVE build peer communities, develop professional skills, and diversify your list of accomplishments.

College athletics creates networking opportunities. 

Playing for a college sports team ties you into a network that includes your teammates and coaches as well as the athletic department, alumni, fans, and the broader community around your sport. Close bonds between teammates and coaches often create long-lasting friendships and mentorships that additionally serve as a professional network after graduation.

College athletics is a great avenue for exposure to a variety of people, and the more people you talk to about your professional goals, the better. Each person who asks what you're going to college for likely knows dozens of people working across a variety of fields, with secondary connections to hundreds more. The more networks you tap into, the more relevant overlaps you'll discover, resulting in more internship and career opportunities. You might even learn about jobs you didn't know existed in your field of study, broadening the horizon of professional possibilities.

As mentioned above, sports teams often volunteer in a service capacity in the community, offering you additional chances to meet individuals from all walks of life. For instance, volunteering in a youth sports clinic creates chances to talk with parents. People you meet in these settings have a positive context for you — as a college student, an athlete, and someone contributing to the community. Conversations that arise in these spaces can spark connections that inspire, inform, and pave the way for a successful career. 

No one gets involved in college athletics just for the networking opportunities. But if you love playing a sport, the extra connections are a great benefit. By doing what you love to do already, you widen your exposure and meet people who are gathered around a common interest that easily gets the conversation started.

Physical fitness enhances mental fitness.

You may worry that training will cut into studies and in turn affect your future career. On the other hand, a regular, intensive exercise routine might make your study time that much more effective. Countless scientific studies confirm that physical fitness improves general well-being, from helping us sleep better to reducing depression to improving focus and cognitive function — all of which directly affect academic success. 

Even though the benefits of regular exercise are widely known, staying active can be difficult for college students. Maintaining steady exercise habits on your own is challenging, even if you know it benefits you long-term. Scheduled practices ensure you show up each day and keep moving without being tempted to sacrifice that time to study just a little extra for a big test.

In addition to providing direct health benefits, athletics are a type of cross-training for your brain. Think of playing a sport as another discipline in a cross-disciplinary college experience. Like painting, acting, or playing an instrument, competitive sports complement your academic work, regularly pulling you out of one mode of thinking to focus on something entirely different. In this way, sports are a valuable component in a well-rounded college experience, promoting holistic brain development that ultimately contributes to your academic and professional success.

Of course, intercollegiate sports aren't the only way to challenge your brain and body through regular physical exercise. If you decide NCAA sports are too big a commitment given your academic goals and other extracurriculars, don't give up on college sports altogether! You can get many of the benefits of varsity sports, including a regular workout, by joining a club team or playing intramurals. 

College sports at Gustavus

Playing college sports fosters valuable skill development, expands your professional network, adds to your job or graduate school resume, and enhances your mental and emotional well-being. Given all these benefits, Gustavus doesn't treat athletics like an extracurricular luxury. With two dozen varsity sports and extensive training facilities, we view athletics as a valuable component of a holistic college education. We offer student-athletes sports-friendly class scheduling, one-on-one academic support, and expert advising to ensure they can balance academics and athletics as each discipline prepares them for professional success.