Today we’ll hear from Parker Goyer, a former Duke University tennis player who has earned graduate degrees or done post-doctoral work at three of the world's leading universities (Oxford, Harvard, Stanford).

I first met Parker more than a decade ago, after hearing about a study abroad program she created for NCAA athletes while she was an undergraduate student.

Pre-pandemic, over 300k U.S. college students studied abroad every year, but the overwhelming majority of college athletes don’t get that chance because of the year-round demands of their sports.

Parker changed that for thousands of college athletes, expanding her Coach for College program from a small offering for ACC athletes to a program that attracted athletes from dozens of colleges.

In today's episode, she shares insights on:

➨ How she balanced sports and academics, finishing at the top of her high school class while becoming a top nationally ranked junior tennis player
➨ The merits of live-away training academies for young athletes
➨ The importance of developing close relationships with high school teachers and college professors
➨ How she used her academic skills to make herself more marketable as a tennis player
➨ And how she has repeatedly found ways to overcome the odds when people underestimated her

Even if your kid isn’t aiming for Duke or Stanford, this interview is essential listening to understand how you can use academics to leverage bigger things for yourself in sports and life.

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My best stories on athletic recruiting:

The Myth of the Sports Scholarship

https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-myth-of-the-sports-scholarship/

The Courting of Marvin Clark

https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-courting-of-marvin-clark/

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Know someone I should interview? Have an idea for a show topic? Hit me up on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/bradwolverton

Thanks for listening!