How A Career Ends: Ron Darling

I came across this great article by Ron Darling this morning on Deadspin.com.  Two paragraphs really hit home to me.

You're always trying to replace that feeling that you have as a professional athlete, and then you realize after two, three, four years that you're never going to replace it. There's nothing that's going to give you the same feeling you had jumping on the backs of your teammates or shaking hands after a win or any of those kinds of things. You're just not going to find it.

That's when I guess you say to yourself, OK, well, you know what? I've been blessed with atime. But now it's a new time. I think that's the hardest part for all ex-athletes is just figuring out, what can you do? What can you do other than play ball?

For me, that was/is a harsh reality that is hard to stop thinking about.  You'll be hard pressed to replace the joy of competition and the feeling of camaraderie with your teammates of doing something special that not everyone gets to experience.  You'll probably never high-five someone after a big sale or pour beer over someone for getting that big promotion.  You feel special as an athlete and "normalcy" can seem boring.  We must find our focus and find something that can bring joy and purpose to life.  

Please read the entire article.  It's a good read

http://deadspin.com/5912078/how-a-career-ends-ron-darling-celebrated-his-35th-birthday-by-getting-cut-and-being-left-alone-at-home

Only 4% of MLB'ers currently on rosters are college graduates.  What can we do to improve this number?  This will hurt players in the long rung because most, even though they are making great money now, will need to find another career after their playing days are over.  A college degree opens alot of doors that are not open to you if you have no degree.  Especially in a tough job market where hiring managers could care less if you used to play MLB baseball.

 College Grads in Baseball a Rare Breed

MY NEXT PROJECT

The one thing I really enjoyed about going back to school was researching and particularly surveying.  I am going to create a survey that will target ex-ballplayers and try to get an idea of how they have transitioned since they left the game.  I want to know how many jobs they've had, if they are currently happy where they are at, and if they think they have struggled or succeeded since they left the game.  I'm going to attack twitter, facebook, and Google + to survey the ballplayers.  I hope to have something up and running in the next couple of days

Nice read out of the New York Times today.  Even got quoted a little bit.  Help for Pro Athletes When the Cheers Stop

Getting Re-energized

Just wanted to start getting back into the swing of things and get back on my blog.  I think it's important and there is a market that exists to assist current and former pro-athletes in their transition out of sport into a new and successful career.  I'm going to start by re-posting the Powerpoint presentation to my senior research project.  Check it out.

http://www.slideshare.net/eknott/major-league-baseball-a-study-of-continuing-education-and-career-development-programs