Gator female student-athletes gain sport career insight at Stay in the Game 2015
Tuesday, January 27, 2015 | General
By Eden Otero, UF Communications (story & photos)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - On Monday afternoon during her ethics class, Florida volleyball player Gabby Mallette started panicking about her future.
Her fear was that she wasn't doing enough to create a bright future for herself.
But on Monday evening in the Champions Club in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, she calmed the panic that weighed on her.
After spending three hours with women in professions like coaching, sports media, medical and even accounting at the Stay in the Game event – an event UF Executive Associate Athletics Director Lynda Tealer started last year after a conversation with soccer coach Becky Burleigh about female athletes and their careers after college – Mallette left knowing what she needed to do next to kickstart her career.
"I feel like when you're going towards a goal, you get so much in your mind that you get kind of distracted by things that don't matter. Having them tell me, 'you need to do this, this and this,' it's just awesome," Mallette said.
For Mallette, the event was eye opening – it showed her how vast the sports industry is – and the junior volleyball player said it would have been something she cherished as a freshman when she was still trying to find her stride.
"I didn't come here last year because of a conflict," Mallette said. "Just coming in here and seeing the people who are doing the things that I want to do and seeing how much goes into what we want to do… it's awesome."
Mallette was just one of more than 115 student athletes, ranging from sports like softball and basketball to gymnastics and swimming, to attend the event.
One of those many other athletes to attend was senior soccer player and track and field athlete Taylor Burke, who had the opportunity to talk to SEC Network-ESPN Coordinating Producer Meg Aronowitz, SEC Network reporter Laura Rutledge and GatorVision's Shelby Granath about the media industry.
Burke said she hoped to find networking opportunities and even possibly job leads at the event since she graduates in May.
"I want to do sports broadcasting, so that really stood out to me," Burke said. "I got to ask questions of Laura, who actually does exactly what I want to do, so I thought it was fun to find my niche, get to talk to her and learn more about it."
Burke and Mallette walked out of the football stadium with advice that could change their futures, which is exactly what Tealer envisioned to help student athletes take the next step after college.
Tealer's efforts – putting together and hosting the Stay in the Game event ?– is just a smaller representation of a larger movement throughout the nation in college sports where organizations are working to open women's eyes to the opportunities available to them.
Tealer said she sees potential in Florida's student athletes. That potential is what pushed her to help Florida's female athletes find where they fit after school.
"When you get to know our student athletes you realize how talented they are; really smart, dedicated, hard working," Tealer said.
"So selfishly I think: What better people to be coaches or administrators or work for the SEC Network? It is helping put people in the work force that are really, really talented and good. So if there is something here that really connects with them, it's good for us and I think it's really comforting for them to realize, 'you know what, that's something that I might want to do.'"
And comforting it was.
Mallette found solace in the advice she was given at the event, something that she wouldn't have found had she not attended.
And the same went for Burke, who got to meet and talk to Rutledge – a woman that has Burke's dream job and could offer her some insight and networking opportunities.
But no matter what, at the end of the night, Florida's female student athletes left with the knowledge that remaining in sports is possible after college.
"I think no matter what career path you take, any advice that someone – a woman especially – with a successful career offers is incredibly helpful," Burke said.
