Beyond Sports Program Helps Gamecocks Succeed After Athletics
Over the last three years, South Carolina’s Beyond Sports Professional Development and Summer Internship Program has been providing opportunities to help student-athletes achieve in life after sports, and seeing the former Gamecocks immediately find work in their chosen field is another sign of the program’s success. Former South Carolina beach volleyball student-athlete Shannon Williams (2016-2019) is one of many of those success stories.
“If you’re a student-athlete and you understand that sports aren’t forever, and you invest in the opportunities that South Carolina offers, it sets you up for success and helps you build connections,” said Williams, who also earned South Carolina’s prestigious President’s Award last year for her efforts not only in athletics, but also in the classroom as well as the community.
Williams graduated last May with a degree in risk management and insurance, with a minor in sport and entertainment management. A month later, she began working as a case manager for The Cason Group in Columbia, where she works with brokers and agents who sell insurance and the insurance carriers.
“The best part of my job is the culture and the community,” Williams said. “During my senior year, I realized that culture is very important to me after coming from a team like beach volleyball where we had such a great culture. Faith is also something that is very important to me, and this company really allows you to express that. The culture is what absolutely keeps me around!”
Williams took part in the Beyond Sports Program in the summer of 2018 and interned in the Athletics Department administrative offices.
“I worked in risk management in the Athletics Department,” Williams said. “I did some auditing for the youth summer camps that we host. There’s a lot of paperwork and rules, laws, and regulations that have to be followed with coaches and everyone involved. I had a checklist and had to check in with all the people who were running the youth camps to make sure they were checking kids in and out properly. Everything went pretty smooth. If it doesn’t, there could be a lawsuit, so it was a good experience. I was at a desk, but I had a lot of opportunity to get out and see people.
“Looking back, that internship reaffirmed that I enjoyed being in a position where I could get out there some and be in a communication role out of the office.”
“Beyond Sports was really great for getting the actual experience in different fields but also because it expands your network.”
For Williams, the internship experience reaffirmed the importance of making connections.
“I definitely wanted to get an internship every summer because I didn’t have an exact plan for what I really wanted to do,” Williams said. “The more experience I got, I just assumed it would help move me along in that process. It ended up being an amazing way for me to learn about different careers that are out there, and I realize how it helped me with the connections that I’ve made. (Director of Student-Athlete Development) Megan (Stoltzfus) and (Senior Associate Athletics Director) Chris (Rogers) and everyone involved in Beyond Sports really want to help us. Now I know I can go back to them anytime and have a career talk and get advice. Knowing they’re in my network is pretty cool. Beyond Sports was really great for getting the actual experience in different fields but also because it expands your network.”
In addition to internship opportunities available inside and outside of the Athletics Department, Beyond Sports provides weekly presentations, panels and guest speakers aimed at helping student-athletes transition to the workforce when their days of competing are over.
“The weekly presentations were awesome,” Williams said. “Just having different panelists and speakers come in and listening to the experiences of other people was very helpful. It’s a crazy transition. When you’re an athlete, you pride yourself a lot on your sport. So, when you go out and work a more normal job, you use that athletics side in some ways, but it’s definitely a transition. Going into the workforce, it’s important to hear how others have handled that transition. It can be tough. I thought all the networking sessions were really good as well.
“Being a student-athlete and being a part of Beyond Sports absolutely sets you up for success. The schedule that we deal with as student-athletes is crazy. Now my day starts at 7:30 and ends at 4:30. I know my work is over then, and I have my nights to myself. I don’t have homework or exams. Whatever career you go into, just being a student-athlete and learning time management naturally sets you up well to be successful because I don’t think we’ll ever have schedule like we did when were student-athletes.”
While she is currently enjoying her first full time job out of college, she’s not ruling out a return to athletics in the future.
“I just loved the fun spirit of being a collegiate student-athlete,” Williams said. “That’s something I will remember forever. Being part of beach volleyball was amazing. We went to Gulf Shores (Ala.) for the national tournament a couple of times. It was a great experience to make it to the highest level in our sport.
“I do miss that aspect of not only playing sports, but just being around it. I like business operations. If I could end up in an athletics department in some fashion, that would be awesome.”
