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Program prepares athletes for future careers

By Jason Baker

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Sade Morris accomplished much during her basketball career. The senior guard was Gatorade’s Player of the Year in 2006 while in high school and made the All-Tournament Team in the 2009 Women’s National Invitational Tournament finals in college.

But there’s one thing she missed out on perfecting during her time with Kansas basketball: a resume.

“I should know how to make one; I just don’t,” Morris said.

Fortunately for Morris and her teammates, making the transition from playing college basketball to working in the professional world is easier now with a program called “Hoops 2 Heels.”

Trena Anderson, director of operations for women’s basketball, started Hoops 2 Heels. The program is designed specifically to help the KU women’s basketball team and other female athletes at the University build skills for their careers after college. Anderson said she got the idea from a similar program at the University of Oklahoma called “Sooner Stilettos.”

For Morris and her teammates, their world consists of playing home and road games, practicing, going to class and tutoring for four years. But Hoops 2 Heels aims to help them when they trade in their jerseys and sneakers for more work-appropriate attire.

The first event, “Game On: Not just on the court,” will take place this month. Anderson said the event would feature 20 to 25 female professionals speaking to the players about the work force.

”We’re going to have entrepreneurs, CEO’s, lawyers, exercise science majors, mothers,” Anderson said. “We want to have different people to offer their life stories to relate to the players.”

Morris said the program gave her more ideas of what to do after college.

“I feel like I can fall back on this to get me to be prepared,” Morris said.

Morris said although she wanted to go into coaching, it was important to know what other opportunities were out there.

Morris’ teammate, sophomore forward Aishah Sutherland, said she wanted to learn more about networking.

“Maybe you’ll see them later on; you never know who you will end up talking to,” Sutherland said.

Sutherland said Hoops 2 Heels was something she and her teammates should all do because they didn’t have the time to participate in activities regular students did.

“People think it’s easy for us, but they don’t understand,” Sutherland said. “They need to be in a position like ours to know what we go through.”

Junior forward Nicollette Smith shared a similar opinion.

“People make comments, like we’re so lucky living the life, but that’s not all that goes into it,” Smith said. “We think they’re lucky because they have a lot more free time.”

Anderson said the teams’ schedule was the main reason the players were unable to attend many campus events and club meetings.

“That’s why we are bringing the resources to them and introduce them to these wonderful women and help create a bridge for them,” Anderson said.

Anderson said she wished she had a program similar to Hoops 2 Heels when she was a track athlete at Southeast Missouri State University.

“In college I wish I knew things like the etiquettes of golf, what type of pants to buy for an interview, and the importance of networking,” Anderson said.

Anderson said that in one experience she was invited to play at a golf tournament during her first job at Michigan State University.

“I showed up wearing a pair of khaki shorts and some tennis shoes. I felt out of place,” Anderson said. “I missed out on a lot of opportunities because, unfortunately, I didn’t know what to wear.”

Anderson said that Hoops 2 Heels was something she had been wanting to plan and that the program had the full support of coach Bonnie Henrickson. She said even if some of the players wanted to play professionally in the WNBA or overseas, they would still have to be prepared to get a job and network.

“The players can’t wear their jerseys 24 hours a day, even overseas,” Anderson said. “It’s intensified being on your own; there’s no academic counselors to push you. This is real life.”

Anderson said she wanted to make Hoops 2 Heels as fun and creative as she could. She even had ideas such as creating a book of healthy recipes and offering financial advice. Anderson said she encouraged other female athletes to attend or even create a program of their own.

“We don’t want to seem like women’s basketball is shut off from the rest of the athletic and academic world,” Anderson said. “We just want a community of professional women to be a resource for our team and a way to transition from college life to professional life.”

— — Edited by Mike Bontrager

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Comments

Program prepares athletes for future careers

So the Career Center isn't good enough for athletes?

Program prepares athletes for future careers

Well done KU for providing this program to nurture well-rounded athletes. As a mindset coach for athlete transition,(Annetteffect) I agree that the more that can be done prior to transition, the easier it is to cross over to life after sport.

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