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Several years from now, after Sanya Richards, Alan Webb, Galen Rupp and other teen-to-pro prodigies possibly earn and collect medals, prestige and national/international honors, they will grace the track one final time and begin other pursuits in the real world.
When they sit in their conference room across the table from the respective Human Resources Directors and applicable managers (who will most likely be cognizant of the athlete:s on-track accomplishments), the former athletes will be asked a series of questions to test their characteristics for success and practical experience as they may relate to the positions for which they may be applying.
A few of the questions staged may very well be:
[insert name],
-What were your most important pro career accomplishments?
-Describe difficult decisions you've made and the process you went through to reach those decisions.
-How did you handle instances or times when you were inappropriately judged or characterized?
-How did you handle negative criticism?
-What did you do when you had an idea or a goal which was in total disagreement with the majority?
-What can you offer us that someone else can't?
-How long would you stay if we offered you this postion?
Their answers will vary, but several facts will bind them together: these former athletes will all have invaluable self-competitive and self-confidence experience gained at the highest level in their previous professions; have made what can be misunderstood and deemed unpopular choices of going against the flow; have dealt with an unreal and unrealistic amount of outside influence and public demand; have made a commitment to themselves and to their coaches to pursue their dreams; and have dared to be themselves - which may have meant daring to be different.
When all is said and done in their sports worlds, I simply hope it is character, desire and dedication which are most evident in the makeup of who Richards, Webb, Rupp, Ritz, Hall and many others in the USA are. The medals and honors they may have received will have come as a result of how well they dealt with their own successes, their disappointments, their own and others criticisms, and how well they put the package together.
That package will be assessed by a group holding the key to a longer future - that in the work world.
Therefore, when these current athletes turn their lives in another direction today - popular with some and disagreeable to others - I hope each understands the principles they will learn along the way can be adapted to - and applied in - their real-life worlds outside of athletics.
When they sit in their conference room across the table from the respective Human Resources Directors and applicable managers (who will most likely be cognizant of the athlete:s on-track accomplishments), the former athletes will be asked a series of questions to test their characteristics for success and practical experience as they may relate to the positions for which they may be applying.
A few of the questions staged may very well be:
[insert name],
-What were your most important pro career accomplishments?
-Describe difficult decisions you've made and the process you went through to reach those decisions.
-How did you handle instances or times when you were inappropriately judged or characterized?
-How did you handle negative criticism?
-What did you do when you had an idea or a goal which was in total disagreement with the majority?
-What can you offer us that someone else can't?
-How long would you stay if we offered you this postion?
Their answers will vary, but several facts will bind them together: these former athletes will all have invaluable self-competitive and self-confidence experience gained at the highest level in their previous professions; have made what can be misunderstood and deemed unpopular choices of going against the flow; have dealt with an unreal and unrealistic amount of outside influence and public demand; have made a commitment to themselves and to their coaches to pursue their dreams; and have dared to be themselves - which may have meant daring to be different.
When all is said and done in their sports worlds, I simply hope it is character, desire and dedication which are most evident in the makeup of who Richards, Webb, Rupp, Ritz, Hall and many others in the USA are. The medals and honors they may have received will have come as a result of how well they dealt with their own successes, their disappointments, their own and others criticisms, and how well they put the package together.
That package will be assessed by a group holding the key to a longer future - that in the work world.
Therefore, when these current athletes turn their lives in another direction today - popular with some and disagreeable to others - I hope each understands the principles they will learn along the way can be adapted to - and applied in - their real-life worlds outside of athletics.
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