On this episode of Alumni Direct's show "ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey," we chat with Kasten Spethmann, retired professional windsurfer, recovering venture capitalist, nomad entrepreneur and coach.
Do they do anything at Portland University to teach athletes what to do next, after they transition out of sports?
"I can't speak to that with 100% certainty because I wasn't an athlete in college...but I can tell you from my experience going to speak at different universities, often times the athletic director and/or coach is not too thrilled about someone like me coming in to speak to the students and throwing statistics out there like, "less than 2% of you are ever going to make it to the pros." And I think the bigger the school and the bigger the sports program, the worse it is. Because those student athletes are usually there on a scholarship....and so they want them focused on their sport. And there is very little help in getting them to understand anything besides the sport or focus on anything different...I think this is a disservice to a student athlete."
What advice would you give to these athletes who are transitioning on to something else?
"One of the things that I do is to reword it, to say "This is the next chapter of your life and you're about to write it". Another analogy would be, "I think there is something missing, and that you have more to give to the world aside from your athletic abilities". I actually give this to my entrepreneurial clients more: "When you have a company that fails, you are still an entrepreneur. And so you go out and you do another one."
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