Optimize Athlete Schedules with Travel Learning Experiences

Many college athletes spend countless hours on planes, trains, and automobiles traveling to and from games, tournaments, and preseason workouts. A career services staff member at Davidson College in North Carolina got creative in offering professional development opportunities for sports teams, traveling alongside players and coaches to provide resources along the way.

Josh King, associate director of athlete engagement and professional development at Davidson, joined the university in 2019 and was looking to establish rapport and structure programming with athletes. But he quickly realized how busy his schedule was.

Instead of piling up an already long to-do list for student-athletes and coaches, King committed to traveling with the teams on road trips to build relationships with them, as well as provide professional and engagement services during their downtime. The program, called Road walksTake advantage of extended periods when athletes are on the road.

How does it work: During the Road Trek, King works with coaches to determine team capacity and surveys athletes to understand their needs. Depending on the team’s bandwidth, King could be gathering ideas or providing professional development experiences, such as one-on-one mentoring or hosting alumni networking dinners or a graduate school visit.

“This depends on the length of the trip and the level of concentration required by the school athletes, as well as the time of the academic year, if the school is busiest,” explains King.

Before booking a trip, King evaluates where teams are going, how long they will be there and the type of trip, whether it’s for training, a preseason game or a conference. “When teams travel, they often have downtime at the hotel, on the bus, at the airport, etc. So I want to make sure I have some of that time to maximize my added value,” says King.

On a trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in January, Davidson’s swimming and diving team participated in a networking challenge, visited a nonprofit, toured the University of Miami Miller School of Law and Medical School, and completed a resume workshop with King.

Pay the bill: Team travel is paid for by each sports team’s budget, so King always offers to pay for his own travel and lodging. “Some trainers offer to pay anyway, and most of the time I eat with the equipment for little to no additional cost to anyone,” explains King.

For larger events, such as an alumni networking dinner, the event is co-sponsored with other university events or allocated through your department’s regular program budget, King says.

The dollar amount allocated for travel and lodging could be compared to one or two workshops hosted on campus (taking into account food and other expenses), so for King, the value of several days on site with athletes with multiple Touchpoints and relationship building provide “greater value for everyone.”

The impact: Since launching the initiative, King has taken 14 trips with eight sports teams (men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, volleyball, baseball, swimming and diving, and women’s basketball) over the past two years. This fall, King will embark on four more trips, aiming for six to eight Road Treks per year.

Athletes on the teams King travels with are much more likely to use the professional advantage (the athlete-only career services program) than his peers, and King’s office has seen an increase in career counseling appointments within three weeks of each team’s trips.

Many teams have long-established travel routines and preferences, but King has found that through communication and offering a variety of options, he can build relationships with athletes and better prepare them for their lives after graduation.

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