Work and college basketball. Two things go hand in hand with the amount of effort and time put in to improve and compete at the collegiate level in a sport I love. But work has entailed a lot for me over the time I have been playing; it has also meant finding work on the side to make a few dollars to spend.
From the beginning of college at South Dakota Mines, some upperclassmen asked me early in school if I wanted to referee some men’s league basketball games on Sundays to make extra money. They had been doing it for the several years that they had been there to have a little side job to pay for food, gas, or anything extra they wanted.
I said yes, and little did I know, it would be a pretty good gig, and I did a lot! By the end of my four years, I would estimate that I refereed around 200 games. Throughout the season, it was typically 4 or 5 games every Sunday, the one day we would have off from basketball. It also meant that after playing on Friday and Saturday and the countless hours on the bus, I would still go in to referee a few games.
It was a fantastic job but a considerable grind on my body throughout the season. Right after the season, little kids’ basketball tournaments always went on in Rapid City, and I contacted the man who ran them. Some of those weekends I refereed 20 games in two days and it has helped provide a lot for me throughout college.
I am incredibly thankful for the two guys in South Dakota who got me all the work refereeing and always cared for me. It did give me a ton of perspective on another aspect of the game that you don’t always think of as a player.
Moving here to CSU Pueblo put me in another new environment to look for something to keep me busy on the side when I am not playing basketball or doing schoolwork. The difference is that school does not take nearly the time it did as an engineering undergraduate at South Dakota Mines.
I am fortunate to be in the online master’s program at CSU Pueblo that is geared toward working professionals and around their schedules. That means I can do my homework any time during the week and must get it all turned in weekly.
Since it doesn’t take as long, I fell into a job at the CSU Pueblo Recreation Center and have enjoyed working there, which gave me something else to do. It is a student job where you check people into working out, cleaning, and caring for the facility.
I also help with Intramurals and still referee the sports that we host. The job has allowed me to meet more students on campus and gain new friends I wouldn’t have met. I think it is vital for college athletes to get involved with work and other opportunities outside of their sport.
