
Nick White, Millikin University
In this blog post, we talked with Millikin student athlete Nick White about his major in Sports Management. He talks about how it is to combine wrestling with a sports management major.
Nick showed me his schedule, and he told me that he has classes at 9 am, 10 am, 1 pm, and 2 pm throughout the whole week. He has practice at 3:45 but goes in earlier to lift everyday as well. In between all of this he tries to get homework done and get something eaten so he has energy for the day. He likes to play video games and watch movies when he is not doing these things.
One thing that Nick wishes he could change is his schedule for his classes throughout the week. He said that he wishes that he did not have classes before 10 am because then he would have more time to work out in the morning. He also said he wished there was more time in the day for him to get all his things done.
Nick also said that he does not feel like there’s enough time in the day with classes, practice, and lifting. He said that he catches himself feeling overwhelmed some days just trying to go to class on time, practice for a couple hours every day, and finding time to do homework. Having a social life adds into this too. Nick said that he barely has time to just chill out and hangout with his friends because he is either doing homework or having something with wrestling going on.
His advice for other students in this major is to get to class on time and to manage your time. Nick says that he struggles some days to show up to his classes on time and that this is one thing he is trying to improve on.
Dr. Joel Blanco, Professor at Millikin University
I also interviewed professor Blanco on this topic too. He said that one skill that someone should have if they are in this field is communication. He also that the sport and recreation field is one that involves working with people, both as coworkers but also as customers. Being able to communicate well both verbally and in written form is essential in this type of work. If you can’t communicate well then you might not be able to carry a steady job within this major.
Professor Blanco also talked about what he thought the biggest challenges are in this major. He said safety and risk management are the hardest challenges in this major. He said that anyone who works in this field soon finds that participants in your programs often behave in a reckless manner that can put their own safety and others at jeopardy. Conducting programs in a safe manner, but are also enjoyable, is a challenge anyone in the field will encounter. I think his advice that he has given will help students with this major and I hope they really listen to what he is saying because it will help them do better in the major.
Thanks for reading my blog post. My name is Whitney Smith.
