Soccer can make getting degree tough
When Gregg Berhalter left the University of North Carolina after his junior year in 1994 and signed with FC Zwolle in the Netherlands, the college course setup wasn’t conducive to the young soccer pro finishing his degree.
Before online classes existed and email was universal, there were correspondence courses. Berhalter, having missed
a semester at UNC to play in the U-20 World Cup and another two chasing his dream as a professional soccer player, began chipping away at a communications degree but didn’t quite get to the units count he needed to graduate.
The fourth-year Crew coach and sporting director has plenty to keep him busy — a family and a year-round career in soccer — but he occasionally thinks about what it would take to get those last units and get his degree.
“I mean, of course it’s something that you think about, right?” Berhalter said. “I think what I would say is there are plenty of excuses why you can’t do it. As an athlete you have plenty of time, and if you really want to do it, you can get it done.”
He is forthcoming about his educational background, and the importance of finishing school is something he often talks about with incoming players.
“Very few players have a long career, and very few players can be financially independent after their career. You want to set these guys up so that after soccer they’re prepared.”
—Crew SC coach Gregg Berhalter
He does so because the reality is that many won’t find the stability in soccer that he has worked for — a nearly two-decade playing career followed by a coaching career that now spans more than five years.
“Very few players have a long career, and very few players can be financially independent after their career,” Berhalter said. “You want to set these guys up so that after soccer they’re prepared.”
On the Crew SC roster, there are several players who in pursuit of a professional soccer career haven’t been able to consider attending college. Others have started and put on hold their coursework in order to focus on soccer. For a few, the timing and circumstances worked out to finish a degree program.
There is one constant for most — it’s difficult to have both a successful soccer career and an education on one’s own terms.
Goalkeeper Zack Steffen, 22, left the University of Maryland after three semesters to sign with German club SC Freiburg. Still a teenager when he got to Germany, he wanted to settle in and learn the ins and outs of professional soccer. When he signed with Crew SC last July, he needed more time to adjust to his new team and city.
Now more than halfway through his first MLS season as a starter, he has plans to work toward a psychology degree by taking a few online classes this fall.
“Obviously, school is of really big importance and it was a tough call (to leave Maryland)‚” Steffen said. “Soccer is all about sacrifices throughout your career. I guess that’s one of them. But at the same time, you have so much free time to where you can do it in the afternoon or when you’re traveling, and it’s not bad.”
Online courses initially weren’t workable for midfielder Wil Trapp, who signed with Crew SC after two seasons at the University of Akron. Trapp started out as a biology student but realized the lab requirements didn’t mesh with his career as a professional athlete. So he switched to sports management and now takes between six and eight units per semester. He’s getting there.
“It’s what you make of it, I would say. If you want to take a lot of classes, you can, you just have to juggle your time pretty efficiently,” Trapp said. “But anything with the university has been great. They take care of me.”
Adam Jahn is sure he would have figured out something had he landed elsewhere, but he considers himself fortunate to have been taken by the San Jose Earthquakes in the 2013 supplemental draft. A 15-mile commute between Stanford University and the Earthquakes’ practice facility allowed him to live on campus for an extra six months and finish all but a couple of classes. Not that what remained was easy.
To finish his management science and engineering degree, he returned the following winter quarter to take a senior project course, in which Jahn met with a group several times per week to complete a supply chain optimization project analyzing Old Navy, the clothing retailer.
“It’s just a relief having the degree. It kind of gives you an easier time if you want to apply for a job somewhere,” Jahn said. “We’ll see. I haven’t thought about a job after soccer. I’m trying to do some things on the side here and there to see what I like, but when the time comes I’ll figure it out.”
Lalas Abubakar likewise has his bachelor’s degree. And when he’s ready, the University of Dayton’s engineering management master’s program is waiting for him to pick up where he left off when he was drafted fifth overall in the SuperDraft in January.
Abubakar originally wanted to begin his professional soccer career after completing high school in Ghana, but a cousin who is working on her Ph.D. in agriculture, Alimatu Sadia Osman, encouraged him to attend the University of Ghana, where he played soccer and studied before transferring to Dayton.
When he is on the phone with his cousin, she delivers frequent reminders about his need to return to his graduate program. And he believes he will, but with a bachelor’s degree in hand, he already is one step ahead of many of his rookie counterparts.
“Soccer is maybe 10 years’ time,” Abubakar said. “Now I have a degree to rely on to go into business or start coaching so I can inspire my community back in Ghana.”