Blog 7

            For this blog post I wanted to share about the article that I found in regards to our group project. The group I am in focuses on student athletes. Being a student athlete in college myself, I found this topic to be very interesting. The article that I found is called Female and Male Student Athletes’ Perceptions of Career Transition in Sport and Higher Education: a visual elicitation and qualitative assessment by C. Keith Harrison and Suzanna Malia Lawrence. The purpose of the research conducted in this experience was to explore student athletes’ perceptions of the athletic career transition process (Harrison & Lawrence, 2004). Going to college is a big change for many students. However, student athletes have a unique challenge of not just the academics but also the competing and physical demand. As a student athlete myself, the transition was harder than I expected. It was a lot of work and took a lot of organization. Being a student athlete is something that I had always wanted to do in college and I always just looked at the sports part of it and not so much the student side. When I got to college as a freshman, I quickly realized that being a student must come first. I had to manage my time more efficiently and really stay on top of my work.

            The participants in this study were 143 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II student athletes. These participants took the LASS, which is the Life After Sports Scale. There were three major themes that came out of the study. The three themes were: Career Path Well Planned, Balancing Academics and Athletics, and Positive Role Model. The participants looked at a student athletes profile and were asked to offer their thoughts and feelings in regard to the student athlete’s profile. Participants continued to agree that finding a job that fits their personalities is vitally important to their success and happiness (Harrison & Lawrence, 2004). I think in many cases it helps to look at other student athletes and find things that they are doing that can help you. I noticed when I was a freshman it was nice to turn to some of the upper classman and notice some of the habits they had that they found success in when trying to balance being a great student academically as well as performing well in their sport. Participants perceived the student athletes profile as a role model and a sense of inspiration. They developed aspirations to achieve success in life and become a model student athlete (Harrison & Lawrence, 2004).

            According to Chen (1998), life career development is a complex and dynamic process, which includes a person-in-context process. Using visual elicitation and a request for a response to an open-ended statement allowed participants to share their complex human experiences. Through this process, participants were able to begin to find career meaning and to make career plans (Harrison & Lawrence, 2004). I found this to be really interesting because I believe talking about our stories and listening to ourselves or listening to others really does have an impact on our career choices. I know for me, talking about the process I went through as a student athlete, shaped me and lead me to the career path that I am pursuing today.

Harrison, K., & Lawrence, S. M. (2004). Female and Male Student Athletes’ Perceptions of Career Transition in Sport and Higher Education: A visual elicitation and qualitative assessment. Journal of Vocation Education & Training, 56(4), 485-506. Retrieved October 13, 2016, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13636820400200266?needAccess=true