While the life of a collegiate athlete may seem glamorous—appearing on national television regularly, sharing the spotlight with some of the most promising young athletes in the world, and living like celebrities on campus—the reality is that most student-athletes will only experience this lifestyle for four years. Less than 1% of collegiate athletes ultimately turn professional, meaning that the enjoyable lifestyle of these young adults will reach its expiration date and eventually leave them to make a living in a field outside of the world of sports.
The majority of student-athletes are not disillusioned to this reality. However, even if they’re aware of their circumstance, there is still a major obstacle that stands in the way of these young adults finding work at the end of their athletic tenure: time constraints.
The schedule of a student athlete leaves little time to do much of anything other than eat, practice, sleep, and perform, which makes the idea of finding time to explore professional alternatives a laughable concept. Without much free time, athletes don’t have the luxury of hopping from major to major like regular students do.
Therefore, in order to assist these time-pressed student-athletes in finding a career suitable for them without squandering their precious time, Game Theory Group developed a new self assessment tool designed specifically to help high school and college athletes identify majors and careers that are fitting for their personality types. The assessment is called the Student-Athlete Interest Inventory and it is used to identify and analyze personality interests of athletes and then go on to match them to a specific major or career path based on their stated interests.
According to the Game Theory Group, the process that accompanies taking the test is designed to be hassle-free. “The application is rich with images and the experience is to scroll and tap. All in all, the athlete would invest 20 to 25 minutes of time. The user experience is designed for both traditional computing or mobile [computing]. We know from past experience, the majority of these assessments will be taken via a mobile device.”
As for the interest the new assessment has garnered from universities, the Game Theory Group has stated that all 45 of their costumers are excited about the test, including Ohio State University, which just recently began assigning the assessment to its student-athletes this week.
Generating interest from and establishing a presence at major programs like Ohio State as well as other big name schools is a good start for GTG, and the obvious utility of the assessment is hard for athletic departments to ignore. The Student-Athlete Interest Inventory has a promising future in collegiate sports and it would make sense for colleges to use it as a tool to help their athletes..
