Senior Guilherme Hadlich, a four-year member of the Pepperdine men's tennis team and a standout in the classroom, is heading into his final season of college tennis. After that, it's on to graduation and starting a job. As he searches for that job, he wants to let employers know that student-athletes are capable of far more than what can be shown on a resume:
Over the past summer, I finally realized "real life" was about to start. For the first time, I had to think about getting a job. The problem is: I had no idea what to do and how to get there. Reality seemed to finally have kicked in, and I realized I spent the last 10 years of my life dedicating all my love, my time and my efforts to the sport of tennis. I realized I had been neglecting the next step in my life, and I hadn't prepared appropriately. I had been relying on all the people who told me that "I could be anything I wanted" and that "I was going to do great no matter what I choose to do." Looking back now, I just wish they all had at least told me what I would have had to do to "do great."For the first time in 10 years, I didn't know where to go next.
Once that yellow light turned on inside my head, I figured I should start moving. For a couple of weeks, visits to the Career Center, long phone calls with my parents and a tremendous amount of Google researches became a part of my routine. I learned that my first step was to write a resume. I thought, "Sweet, I'm a pretty cool guy and I did pretty well in tennis, I'm sure everyone will want to hire me." Hmm. No. With no previous work experience, all I was left with was my experience as a collegiate athlete at Pepperdine University -- which apparently was not enough for employers. I was getting so frustrated! It didn't seem fair to me that I had to limit the best three years of my life into four or five lines and a few action verbs. There is no way someone can read one-fourth of a page and fully understand what being a college athlete teaches you. In my opinion, it prepares you for life better than any other class, job or internship. Here's why:
1: You(really) learn how to work in teams and how to deal with different points of view. I've traveled a lot throughout my life because of tennis, so I was fortunate enough to meet people and make friends from everywhere in the world. I thought I was very good at understanding other people's perspectives and dealing with different cultures --until I came to Pepperdine. When you have three Brazilians, one Argentinian,one Chilean, one Peruvian, one Canadian, three Americans, one half-Mexican and one Brit on the same team, let's just say you have some "differences of opinion."You either learn how to accept other perspectives or you won't last long. I had to learn that my values will not always work for everyone, and that people take different approaches to excellence.
2: Time management -- you learn the true meaning of a day having 24 hours. Wakeup at 6 a.m.,shower, make breakfast, drive to school. Find parking, tennis practice from 7-9, fitness from 9-10. Shower, convocation from 10-10:45, grab lunch to go, take shuttle to class. Class from 11-2, another tennis workout,stretch, meet with a group for a class. Get dinner with girlfriend, drive back home, study for test, read book for a quiz, go to bed. Repeat that the next day.Â
3:Â You learn how to accept criticism and how to get better from it. When you spend 10 or 15 years playing an individual sport, you get used to doing things in your own way. You become certain that you know what is best for you. The problem is that in college, it is not about you. You get there and you have your "boss" -- a.k.a. your coach --and captains telling you that you need to do things in a different way. At the beginning, there are weeks when you kind of just want to tell them to mind their own business and then go back to your room, curl into a ball and go to sleep. But as time goes by, you learn that they just want the best for you and that embracing their criticism will not only make you a better player, but abetter person.
4: You learn that your actions have consequences and that they affect other people too. Last -- and most important -- you learn that you are not only representing yourself anymore. You represent your team, your coach, your athletic staff, other students on campus, faculty,alumni and ultimately your school. Therefore, you need to make decisions that are compatible with your new role. One bad decision could harm many other people, so you should always think twice. It is scary at first, but this change turns you into a more mature, self-controlled and disciplined person. It leaves you more prepared for the future, when you need to represent your family and your company.
There are other things I've learned in the past years, but I chose to highlight the ones that are more applicable to the workplace. Very often you see them as requirements for job positions. They are "soft skills," extremely difficult to teach in a classroom. While companies spend thousands of dollars trying tot each them to employees, student-athletes learn them every day while still working toward a degree. So, if you ever see yourself with a student-athlete resume in your hands, please don't overlook it. We go way beyond what is written there. And trust me when I say this: we are ready, and we know how to succeed.
