Balancing academics and athletics is already a challenge for student-athletes, but does the sport they play influence their major? Some athletes found that the skills and mindset they developed in their sport naturally aligned with their academic interests, while others explored entirely different paths.
Matthew Perje, freshman exercise science major and student-athlete on CBU’s swim team, believed his experience as a swimmer played a key role in his choice of major.
“I chose exercise science because I knew the importance of caring for your body and how to take care of a potential injury,” Perje said. “Being an athlete made me appreciate this knowledge of the body, and I wanted to share this knowledge with others as I help them recover from their injuries.”
Beyond his major, Perje saw a direct connection between his sport and his academic mindset.
“Swimming is very technical, and when I swam, I had to think about a bunch of small things that helped maintain efficiency,” Perje said. “Much like swimming, math makes you think about numerous possibilities and choose the best calculation for the given problem.”
While some athletes like Perje selected majors that complemented their sport, others, like Madison Montgomery, sophomore pre-nursing major and competition cheerleader, had long known what career they wanted to pursue, regardless of their athletic involvement.
“I wouldn’t change my major, whether I was in athletics or not,” Montgomery said. “I knew I wanted to be a nurse since high school, and although I loved being a cheerleader, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do it forever, and my career does come first.”
Still, Montgomery credited cheerleading with helping her develop essential skills for her future profession.
“Teamwork is important in a healthcare setting, and cheer has taught me that the weight of it all doesn’t rest on just me alone,” she said. “Self-discipline has carried me through hard practices, long days, and stressful situations and continues to help me push through when it feels impossible.”
Cassidy Gonzales, extern for sport and performance psychology program, observed a pattern in how athletes approached their academic pursuits.
“I think athletes did tend to gravitate toward majors that had qualities they saw in their sport,” Gonzales said. “Retiring from sport was almost always inevitable, but that adjustment was not easy. When the sport was gone, filling that void could be easier if the job field they entered mirrored some of the qualities that the sport had—like competitiveness, team culture, goal-oriented tasks, etc.”
Gonzales also saw a connection between sports performance principles and academic success.
“Athletes often aimed for ‘perfection’ in their sport, so they likewise shot for similar success in academics,” Gonzales explained. “This wasn’t always true, but I think the drive to improve and excel carried over.”
For student-athletes unsure of how to align their academic and athletic goals, Gonzales offered this advice:
“Look at the standards you had for your athletic goals since it was rare for an athlete to not have any, and look into what drove those goals. Once that was set, try to find how you could apply that drive to the academic realm, too.”
Whether their major directly related to their sport or not, the discipline, time management and resilience they developed as athletes continued to influence their academic journeys and future careers.
