Sacramento State has hundreds of student-athletes, and most of them will go pro in something beside sports.

The rewarding experience that Sac State students receive from being an athlete is an experience they would not have been able to live through if they decided not to become a Hornet.

Many student-athletes possess a passion for athletics that in the long run help them with lifelong goals outside of sports.

After these Hornet players graduate from Sac State, they don’t just know how to play their sport better, they know how to work well with others and they will developed the discipline and work ethic that can help them in the careers that they plan to pursue.

Let’s face it, it takes a lot of discipline for a student-athlete to perform rigorous workouts and practices and travel with his or her team every week while still keeping up with classes and maintaining good grades.

Student-athletes also need to learn to work with their teammates in order for the team to succeed because the saying always goes: there’s no “I” in team. In order for a team to earn a win, the players need to work together as one unit, which requires selfless decision-making and even basic social skills that these student-athletes might not have learned if they were not on the team.

Director of Athletics Terry Wanless said there are three main areas for a student-athlete to grow in: relationship building, discipline and organization.

Wanless said building relationships is important since developing social skills tends to be overlooked nowadays.

“Relationship building can be applied to respecting others in a social environment, whether that may be faculty, staff, coaches students,” Wanless said. “I get a lot of chances to talk to kids and I even teach them the importance of saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ It may seem trite at this age, but it’s never outdated.”

Wanless also said that these simple social skills have become forgotten since people generally take care of themselves and forget to look out and lend a helping hand to those around them.

Social skills that student-athletes developed at Sac State have benefited and it shows. Sophomore communication studies major Deionte Gordon said that throughout his experience being an athlete on the football team, he developed a strong sense of trust among his teammates that he will cherish forever even if he does not play football professionally.

“I learned to trust and rely on my teammates as I kept playing with these guys,” Gordon said. “Once I gained that trust, I wanted to protect my teammates. I started to develop a sense of loyalty towards them. That’s the biggest thing for me.”

Senior sociology major Melissa Melcher of the volleyball team also developed a strong sense of trust among her teammates, but she trusts her teammates on and off the court.

“After playing with most of these girls for four years, I learned to trust them as an individual,” Melcher said.

Melcher also said that she has developed leadership skills from being on the volleyball team throughout her time at Sac State.

“I learned a lot of leadership skills from being on the team,” Melcher said. “Now that I’m a senior and the team captain, it was time for me to take the reign, and I learned a lot about how to deal with a lot of different personalities.”

Wanless also mentioned discipline as a skill set that student-athletes develop. He said that athletes go through a process of performing tasks repetitively.

“In order to have skill-development, you need to have repetitive instruction, no matter what sport you’re in,” Wanless said. “In order to achieve greatness, you must practice doing things right.”

Organization skills are important according to Wanless because it teaches athletes how to work with other teammates with diverse backgrounds.

“You’ll be with people who don’t look like you, who don’t talk like you, but all of you have a common goal and understand that in order to achieve that goal, you all must work together,” Wanless said. “That’s a very valuable experience that the student-athletes go through, and because it helps as they move into the business world, having that mindset of being a good teammate is important to achieving the ultimate goals and objectives for a corporation or whatever the business may be.”

One specific example of discipline in athletics is work ethic and mental toughness.

“My work ethic has changed a lot by over the past four years,” Melcher said. “You have to go into every practice and every game with that same mental toughness, and that’s something that you don’t really have coming onto the team as a freshman. I looked up to the older girls for guidance since they had that mental toughness. It’s something that takes a lot of time to develop.”

Melcher also said that being on the volleyball team has helped her prioritize her life as well.”I learned a lot about fitting volleyball into my life,” Melcher said. “I learned what was important to me and what I need to put first in my life and school is definitely a number one along with keeping up with volleyball. Along with that, keeping my body and mental game in shape, it takes time.”

Both Gordon and Melcher already have set plans for what they want to do after college. Gordon wants to use his communications major to go into news or sports broadcasting.

“I like talking and communicating,” Gordon said. “I want to have my own show, especially a sports show of some sort.”

Melcher did want to try to play professional volleyball after college, but she would have to play overseas since there is no women’s professional volleyball league in the U.S.

“Playing professional volleyball overseas is pretty much your only option after college, which is what I want to do, and I think it will be an amazing experience,” Melcher said.

The experience of being a student-athlete participating in a collegiate sport is more than just learning how to throw, hit, kick or bounce a ball, or how to tackle someone. The benefit of being a student-athlete is realizing one’s skill set that can help them later on life.

Nick Hunte can be reached at [email protected]