Krzeczowski Enjoys Unique Opportunity at Under Armour Career Combine

As the SEC leader in career shutouts who has earned all-conference honors in each of her first three seasons, South Carolina senior Mikayla Krzeczowski is an elite goalkeeper on the pitch. This summer she was part of an elite group of individuals off the field as she was selected to participate in Under Armour’s 2019 Career Combine at the company’s headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland.

“They took applicants from schools around the country and they put us through a course of how their company is run and what they’re all about,” Krzeczowski said. “I learned a lot about the brand. It was neat because I get to wear the brand on the field, but this was a chance to see it all behind the scenes.

“I think I learned a little bit about what it’s like to be in the job force. I had a chance to look into the entertainment marketing, where they partner with non-athletes. Overall, I learned a lot about the brand, and how picky they are, in the best way, about who they want to sign to represent them. They do a good job of defining their brand, which is the performance athlete. I liked how unique that is.”

The Under Armour Career Combine was held for three days in May and is a selective program for UA student athletes, providing them an opportunity to experience the brand from the inside. The selected student-athletes had a chance to learn the business, develop critical thinking, focus on problem solving skills, take part in job shadowing, and learn about careers within the company.

“There is a lot of attention to detail. It made me think about going from a student-athlete to something else next year.”
– Mikayla  Krzeczowski

“The people that I shadowed dealt with contracts with the schools, so it was cool to see what that is all about,” Krzeczowski said. “It was neat to see how each school is represented. It was cool to walk through the factory and see some of the technology. They have a 360-degree body scanner where they can scan a body type and put a shirt on you to see where the sweat falls and is wicking away and where it’s sticking.

“Under Armour is partnering with NASA to make something that goes under a spacesuit. We had the chance to see and feel that material. That was pretty cool.”

Krzeczowski is studying visual communications and this opportunity opened her eyes to the importance of a brand.

“I didn’t think a lot about branding before, but I’m glad I had chance to get to know more about the organization,” Krzeczowski said. “To know exactly what I’m representing was pretty cool. Under Armour is just killing it right now with their technology, and that’s what sets them apart. There is a lot of attention to detail. It made me think about going from a student-athlete to something else next year, and how I may want to shift my personal brand. I’m a good goalkeeper, but if I want to go pro, what is it that is going to set me apart from the others? That’s where attention to detail comes in.

“Under Armour is still young compared to some of the other apparel companies, but it does such a good job of pinpointing its audience. It’s neat to see how many sports they have a hand in. Obviously, they’re big into football, but they’ve got Steph Curry with basketball, and ‘The Rock’ with entertainment, and they had Kelly O’Hara (U.S. Women’s National Team) from the World Cup as an Under Armour athlete. It’s cool to see how global they are.”

The students were put into teams and had to use their imaginations to create a product and present that to larger groups.

“We had it set up to where we had unlimited resources to make a product, and we made a skiing backpack for when you’re out in the country, not on the slopes,” Krzeczowski said. “It had all kinds of fun technology to protect you from avalanches with a GPS that had a limitless battery.  It was designed almost like a turtle shell.”

Among the requirements to be selected for the Career Combine, the student-athletes had to write an essay about some of the different challenges in their college experience.

“I wrote a lot about having to learn time management,” Krzeczowski said. “Just being away from your parents the first time, and you don’t have people reminding you all the time where you need to be.  You have to get things done and everything is on you. That was probably one of my biggest obstacles to overcome when I came out of high school.”

Overall, Krzeczowski hopes this experience will help her have a better understanding of the challenges ahead of her whenever her soccer career is over, and she has to be in the workforce fulltime.

“It was cool to make contact with Under Armour employees that I could matchup with on LinkedIn,” Krzeczowski said. “It was a great experience.”