On this episode of Alumni Direct's show "ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey," we chat with Kristoffer Doura, former professional football player, investment advisor, and wall-street journal best-selling author of "Let's Get It!". Kristoffer talks with us about his journey growing up in sports and his transition into business and finance. 

When you were in school, was there a movement of alumni athletes coming back to mentor the current athletes?

"There wasn't enough of that. We had players and athletes from every sport that would come and watch during your homecoming game or your championship games...those were the games where you really saw alumni come back and support. If they weren't a part of the organization in regards to either the mentorship setting or work setting, you didn't really see too many alumni.... We didn't have enough of them; I think that could be something encouraged today moving forward, for universities to be able to attract alumni; to be able to attract student athletes who are still current and getting ready for the next stage of their lives, to be able to have a community to be able to rely on for resources."

Kristoffer's thoughts on NIL:

"When you win national championships, you have a lot more attention in the community... you have a lot more people who are interested to invest in you, and then you have a lot more capacity to bring in resources that you would never have thought you would get access to if it wasn't for that performance. Athletes need to be treated as business professionals earlier in their journeys, because if an athlete is so zeroed in that they don't have the capacity to think about that stuff, then they're missing opportunities."

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On this episode of Alumni Direct's show "ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey," we chat with Trent Clark, former college baseball and tennis player, MLB coach, and entrepreneur. 

Trent talks with us about his journey growing up playing sports, overcoming "not-enough-ness", and going on to coach 3 winning baseball games in the World Series. 

Trent's thoughts on athletes' transferrable skills:

"There are a bunch of skills that you as an athlete have that can take you to the next level of any career, entrepreneurship...anything that gets you ahead, and I think kids miss that."

Trent's advice to current athletes preparing for a transition out of sports:

"Make a list of the 5 people who can help you, who have been and done what you are doing and you admire them. The people who are most successful...very rarely do people call them up and ask them for their help, especially a young and talented person."

Trent's thoughts on success:

"The most successful people in the world have faced adversity along the way. I've never seen the mountain with the smooth steps all the way up, right? Where does that exist?"

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On this episode of Alumni Direct's show "ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey," we chat with Scott Brunner, former college football player at the University of Delaware, former NFL player, and Wall Street executive. 

Anytime I can bring a fellow Blue Hen onto the show, it's fantastic! Scott played college football at the University of Delaware. There have been quite a few quarterbacks from UD who played in the NFL. Scott, we are excited to hear more about your whole journey, starting from playing sports as a youngster, all the way through to what you do today. 

"Part of what makes an athlete attractive to the people who are hiring is that they can see that they have the ability to really get laser-focused on what they're doing and excel at something. Those are the qualities that a lot of employers are looking for, that are exhibited in real time by athletes in those type of environments."

-Scott Brunner

Scott's advice to current professional athletes:

"If you retire when you're 30 or 35, you still have a pretty long life to live, so you've gotta do something else. So the question is not what your job is gonna be, but what are you going to do for the rest of your life...and how are you going to support your well-being, mentally and emotionally?"

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On this episode of Alumni Direct's show "ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey," we chat with Jordan Parise, former Hockey player at North Dakota, NHL player, medical device salesperson, and founder and coach at Parise Hockey. 

Jordan on the value of the skills you gain through sports:

"I didn't realize that businesses are looking for guys that are coachable, that have worked with teams before, that can persevere, that understand discipline...

But I realized very quickly that there is a market for those kinds of people. It became very clear to me that all of these things that I had learned as an athlete could compliment everything that I was going to do afterward."

Give some advice to current athletes to prepare for the transition out of sports.

"Before you get done (with your sport), really honestly take some time and ask yourself, 'what is it that I enjoy?' and start digging in a little bit. Because the time that you're done comes very quickly and very abruptly. You need to take some time find some clarity on what it is you even enjoy...And then start learning about those things."

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On this episode of Alumni Direct's show "ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey," we chat with Jim Cederna, former college football player at Central Michigan University, businessman and CEO of multiple companies, and founder & CEO of Cederna International.

Tell people about growing up playing sports and how that shaped you, ultimately. 

"Well first of all Rob, thank you for involving me, and I hope that my story of going from small-time football to big-time business can be lessons learned for others, and I hope I can provide some help there. So, I come from very northern Michigan, from a very small town. We didn't have many sports. We didn't have baseball teams because school was done in the spring before the snow was melted and all those kinds of things, so football was THE sport in our town, and you were a rockstar if you were a successful football player. My father had done very well, loved the sport, and there was no question that I was going to play football. And I didn't have a lot of other choices anyway, so that's where it began, and I was successful enough to get a scholarship to play at Central Michigan and I played at that level also."

Jim's advice for current athletes preparing for a transition out of sports: "My first coaching tip to anybody who is in a position where you need to start making an income for a living and it's not gonna be sports: Your network comes in handy...and we don't really take advantage sometimes of all the people we know."

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On this episode of Alumni Direct's show "ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey," we chat with Gary Rogers, former football player at Vanderbilt University and in the Canadian Football League, and current podcaster and founder of Check Your Game. 

Tell me about playing sports growing up. How did that shape you?

"Well, when I think about sports as a kid...I loved sports. I'm not sure why I loved sports so much, but I started playing baseball, and I just could not wait to play the games on Saturday morning. If it was a rainout, oh, it would just devastate me. As you keep going up to the next level or league in baseball, then coaches, they see some of your skills, and then they recruit you for soccer...and then all of a sudden, football gets in the mix. It started with baseball, and then I started playing all sports. I loved playing anything with a ball...and also what is important is fans. People are cheering you on. You do something, you steal a ball, you get a hit, you throw out a person, you make a tackle, and people are cheering for you?! And they're encouraging you! And so that encouragement for me, in my personality, I'm getting chills. That just makes me want to do more of that and say, I want to get more cheers."

Talk about your transition out of college sports.

"I had a year off after college. That year off was a part of my story. My coach, Rick George, set me up with an interview with Johnson and Johnson, which I missed. I went home for about a month. I was hurt, I couldn't run, couldn't do anything. I sprained my ankle, probably playing basketball and I couldn't do anything but then I realized, I want to play. So I drove back to Nashville with $20 and my Mom's BP gas card. And I had one heck of a miserable year. It was my worst year probably in my life...pretty much homeless, had no money, lost that BP card pretty quick. That $20 I had to my name, I mean that's gone like instantly. And I was trying to work, do some different things...it was a miserable time. Trying to get back to play football to get in shape and work out for the NFL scouts and all that. So as far as transition, my transition started there. Missing my J&J interview, then pretty much being homeless and hungry."

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On this episode of Alumni Direct's show "ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey," we chat with Stephen Clarke, former professional hockey player,  advertising agent, entrepreneur and founder & CEO of RTG group, a group of for-profit Social enterprises with a purpose on making a positive impact in the world.

What efforts are you seeing, back when you were playing and now, in educating athletes about how they can prepare for when their time in sports is over?

"Back in the day, that wasn't the case. There weren't any efforts like that. Back in the day, we seemed to have the mentality that we were going to play forever. And so when, all of a sudden, in my case, for example, after 5 years, I blew up my knee, had a bunch of surgeries, and basically I came back and they said, you're not playing again. I mean, there was no way. So that was a really difficult time, because I hadn't really prepared for that, and there was no help really around. Today, I'm so pleased to say that first of all, athletes are making, you know, a gazillion dollars. So when they transition out, they've got all these other things. 

In fact, as you know, we're doing a franchise model right now for athletes. So these guys can transition just into stuff like that and they're set. But there's more preparation now. They're understanding that all these are games where you could reach the end tomorrow...these guys know that now they go into it, they sign these contracts, right away they've got agents and managers telling them "hey, this isn't forever. This is going to end sometime, it could be next year, it could be in 10 years, but it's going to end, so let's plan for that now". And we never got any of that... So I'm glad to see where things are now, and I think the transitions for athletes are going to be a lot better, because they're no longer simply defined as we were, by being an athlete. Like one day you're a professional athlete, and the next day, you're nothing. These guys know, they're prepared for that, they've got all these other things set up."

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On this episode of Alumni Direct's show "ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey," we chat with Keith Hammond, former college football player, project manager, and the founder of Hammond Solutions, LLC. 

Talk about your transition out of sports.

"So, like everyone, after my last game, I bawled like a baby. And it wasn't that I was going to miss the game as much I as I was going to miss the locker room. I realized that I can always go outside and throw a football around, or run through a wall, or go into a weight room or do whatever I need to do, but I would never be in a locker room with 135 guys again. Like I said earlier, I knew that I would never go beyond (into pro sports). So at first, I tried to hang onto some levels. I played in the USFL for half a season, until that strike came, and I was like, "why do I keep doing this?". And then I was called by a friend of mine who was playing with the Colorado Cougars, which was a semi-pro team...and I played with them for a year. Then I played for 2 years with the USFTL, which is the United Stated Flag and Touch League, and then I played for the Colorado Steelers, and did pretty good, and we had a number of former NFL guys. So when I say that I walked peacefully into the light, I really didn't. I kept a toe back in the sport."

Give some quick advice about what people should be looking to do as they transition out of sports.

"Look at your strong points. Look at your ability to formulate teams, and then look at where you have the best support network. Look at your strengths. If your strengths are analytical, then you can go into an analytical field. If your strengths are more problem-solving, or you can come to a cohesive team decision, then look for that environment. And don't force it, don't force yourself. Don't force that round peg into a square hole. Things will come. Also, don't hang on your past grip strength. When it's done, you need to formulate a plan. You need to develop a network of like-minded individuals; people who are forward-thinking and forward-facing, and looking to better themselves and transition up."

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On this episode of Alumni Direct's show "ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey," we chat with Myriam Glez, former Olympic swimmer and coach, CEO of USA Synchronized Swimming, entrepreneur and founder of the nonprofit Athletes Soul. 

Tell everybody about Synchronized Swimming and how that works.

"Synchronized swimming would be like gymnastics or ballet in the water. It's been around for quite awhile; it's a very popular sport in other countries, especially in Europe and Asia. So there were a lot of synchronized swimmers where I grew up. I saw it on TV and that's how I got inspired to start in the sport. It's a very demanding sport in terms of the number of hours that you train, because we do essentially a lot of different sports. You have to be a good gymnast, you have to be flexible, you have to do strength training outside of the pool, ballet, but then you also do a lot of swimming, and then your sport. During the week you would be doing a little bit of everything, and you have to try to figure out how to fit that in each day. It's a very comprehensive sport, and very brainy as well, because you have to remember routines, and there's a lot of elements that are related to your mental game, in addition to being very physical."

Give me your thoughts about NIL. 

"I think the positive is that athletes can make some money, whether it is being a top football player in the college space and you can actually take advantage of that and really get some sponsors to support you, to the niche sport and lower profile athletes who actually can work other jobs like any other student and not lose their scholarship because they are doing things like coaching, modeling or whatever that is. I feel like it's bringing some equality between athletes and students because students are already doing other jobs, and then it's helping the top athletes benefit from the college market and not just have the university being the one reaping all of the benefits."

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On this episode of Alumni Direct's show "ATHLETES TO ENTREPRENEURS: The Alumni Journey," we chat with Mark Moyer, former college athlete, author, founder and CEO of the Win Again Academy.

Mark on the difficulty of athlete transitions: 

"I always thought that retired athletes are living the dream. Then I started speaking to them and I found that almost none of them are living the dream when they retire because suddenly they're losing not just their identity as an athlete, but they're losing the locker room, the camaraderie...their second family, they're losing their daily routine, their fitness routine, their nutrition routine. They're losing the adrenaline rush of playing in front of fans. There are so many things that suddenly are gone the day that they retire. And now they're sitting on their couch, and they may have a magnificent home and some nice golf clubs, a couple of nice cars, whatever it is, but their mission is gone. They just don't have that anymore. And that, to me, is the big missing thing, whether you're a successful retired professional athlete or you're a student athlete playing at the university of nowhere...but if you've been playing a sport your whole life and suddenly the switch is turned off and you don't know which way to go...the analogy I use all the time is that it's almost like being thrust into a life raft in the middle of the ocean. And there's water everywhere, and you've got a big giant paddle. And because you're an athlete, you're strong, and you can paddle a long way. The problem is, you don't know which direction to go. You don't know where land is. So you're paddling in circles, and you're nervous, you're scared, you're depressed, you're lonely, you're all these things, because you don't know which way to go. And sometimes what you need is that guidance, whether it's from a coach like myself, or books, or internal collegiate resources that will help give you the coordinates of that island that's over that way. And then you can get there."

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