Jasmine Casimir // Asst. Sports Director
For four years, Taylor Shade would wake up early for her morning classes and then would have to keep that same energy for basketball practice in the afternoon. After practice, she had to do treatment, followed by tutoring that lasted for two hours.
By the time Saturday came, Shade said, she didn’t go out because she spent most of her time sleeping in.
“It was really hectic for me, but I survived,” Shade told Student Media.
But all of that is now over for the former point guard, as her schedule no longer revolves around school and basketball after graduating in spring 2016 with a Bachelor of Science in recreation and sports management.
“I miss the college atmosphere,” said Shade. “I tell my family and friends that I miss playing the games.”
When most student-athletes don’t get a chance to compete in their sport in the next highest level, they struggle with transitioning into adulthood and out of their college life, which was centered around athletics.
Shade had the opportunity to go further in sports, as she had signed with her agent a couple of weeks after graduation and participated in two professional combines for the exposure.
“I’m still waiting for opportunities to play professionally, but in the meantime I have a job so I keep myself busy,” Shade said.
For student-athletes, it can help that they are prepared for life after college if they are unable to play a professional sport. Shade said that she was not ready for the real world, but the student athlete academic center helped her prepare for the real world with their workshops and lessons on how to build a resume.
The scholar athlete was provided with plenty of guidance and help from coaches, tutors, family and friends so that she can be successful if professional ball is not going to work out for her.
“Now that I’m out of college and I have car payments and had to find a job, it was tough,” said Shade. “Give or take, some days I needed the extra motivation to do things and constant reminders, but I told my parents one day, ‘Hey I’m an adult now’, so they started treating me as one, which kinda forced me to think and act like one.”
One of the hardest parts about life after college is finding a job, with possibilites of being rejected or not receiving a call back. Shade has experienced both rejections and acceptances of finding a job.
“I applied to work at the Apple Store in the Boca Raton Mall, but I got rejected,” she said. “We’re a technology generation so I thought I could pick up a job there. But after that [rejection] opportunities actually came to me.”
Opportunities sure enough came around for Shade after getting in contact with her middle school, Odyssey Middle School. She became friends with their basketball head coach who put her in a position to now be the varsity head coach of Boynton Beach Community High School, Shade’s former high school.
“At first I told myself no, I’ll never coach at my high school, but God has a way of putting you in the places you’re supposed to be.”
With having the mindset of playing in sports at the next level after college, student-athletes will most likely be competing to increase their chances of that happening.
And Shade has a message for those who will have a hard time accepting the life after sports.
“Trust the decisions you make. Be patient for what’s for you, and accept what is not.”
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