VCU men’s basketball redshirt player Martin Carrere has a clear vision of his future.

“I pretty much know what I want to do,” says the elite French guard-forward. “I want to be a basketball player.”

But he’s got a backup plan, too — one he built with the help of a unique new partnership between the VCU Department of Rehabilitation Counseling and VCU Athletics Student-Athlete Support Services, which offers academic advising and coaching along with career, professional and personal development.

Like dozens of other freshmen across VCU’s 17 sports, Carrere is benefiting from the new Rehab Counseling/SASS first-semester assessment designed to help student-athletes prepare for life after sports. Backed by clinical expertise, the program provides structured assessments and career coaching to help student-athletes explore post-graduate paths beyond their athletic identities.

“As an international student, I found the assessment helpful in exploring other career opportunities and understanding what I like and don’t like," the 18-year-old says.

The partnership is the brainchild of Jared Schultz, Ph.D., professor and chair of VCU Rehabilitation Counseling at the College of Health Professions. His background: vocational and mental health counseling for disabled people. But prior to joining VCU in 2021, he was on faculty at the University of Arizona and realized many of the skills and needs of that community are valuable for student-athletes, too.

“There are societal, attitudinal things that have excluded people with disabilities from the workforce — people don’t expect them to be able to work, and so families and health care providers focus on the disability but don’t spend time on dialogues around career development,” he says. “The exact same phenomenon is happening with student-athletes, but it’s a different social expectation. You think of student-athletes as being the picture of health, and they are, but the reality is that their identity and focus is on sport — not their future career.”

Garrett Knudson, Ed.D., assistant athletic director for student-athlete development at VCU, emphasizes that student-athletes often struggle to take advantage of traditional college career development programs due to their demanding schedules. 

“Between practice, travel, weight training and games, student-athletes are balancing what is essentially a full-time job on top of being college students,” he says. “We bring career development to them in a way that fits into their experience.”

The science behind the student-athlete program

The new Student-Athlete Assessment Program addresses a critical gap in their development: many have spent years focused solely on their sport, leaving little time for career exploration. Some have clear post-athletic goals, but many face uncertainty about their futures.

After he arrived in Richmond, Schultz approached VCU Athletics with the idea for a data-backed vocational coaching program. Knudson, who leads curriculum and career development programs for student-athletes, saw an opportunity to integrate Schultz’s work into the existing support structure for them. 

“We want student-athletes to be successful in life, whether they go on and have a successful pro career, or become a successful teacher or business person,” Knudson says. “There are similar resources on campus, but due to the time demands of student-athletes, they may not have the ability to take advantage of those resources. So we create programming more tailored to the student-athlete experience and what they're going through, because it is a different experience than what other students get on campus. This assessment is another level of support to promote the professional growth of our student-athletes.”

Schultz points to both anecdotal stories and studies that reinforce the need for universities and athletic departments to provide structured career planning and underscore the role of education in an athlete’s post-sports life — rather than an overreliance on professional athletic aspirations. 

He cites a recent dissertation from Kaitlin Cohen, a then-doctoral candidate at the University of Florida’s Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, who found 15% of student-athletes do not have an established future plan, and most view collegiate athletics as a means of attaining an academic degree. "Having direction before sport retirement occurs allows for the athlete to have a smooth transition,” wrote Cohen, supporting the argument that proactive career planning is crucial in avoiding post-sport identity crises and employment challenges.

“There is a major cliff for student-athletes when they complete their athletic endeavors, as most won’t go pro,” Schultz says. “They don’t know what they want to do, or they’ve been invested in their athletics as a source of their identity since a very young age, and it’s suddenly pulled away from them and they’re left adrift.”

Notes Knudson: “This program gives us a way to take a more in-depth approach, putting research and formal assessment behind what we were already doing.”

‘You can’t look at vocation narrowly’

Fall 2024 marked the program’s first semester, engaging about 70 student-athletes.

The process begins with student-athletes completing a series of assessments —  evaluations of their interests, values, abilities and career maturity. Results are reviewed in one-on-one meetings, where the student-athletes discuss their career goals and develop actionable plans. The final step involves collaboration with athletics advisors to align career exploration with available university resources.

Beyond career planning, the program integrates a quality-of-life assessment, emphasizing that success extends beyond job placement. “You can’t look at vocation narrowly,” Schultz says. “If your quality of life is poor, it’s hard to maintain a job.”

Initially a business major, Carrere changed his major to international studies after completing the program. “I realized I enjoy building relationships with people, traveling, and making connections across different countries,” he says.

The assessment didn’t change his drive to play professionally — nor should it, Schultz says.

But the program does help foster greater self-awareness. “The number one thing we hear from students is, ‘I’ve never thought about this before,’” he says. “Just having them sit down and talk about their future in a structured way is incredibly valuable.”

‘Pay attention to this program’

Knudson hopes to expand the initiative beyond the first semester. “I’d love to give them more time to acclimate and then integrate career development into each stage of their college experience," he says.

As a researcher, Schultz is also interested to see long-term data that shows how student-athletes fare after graduation — and sport retirement. 

“On a personal level, I love the intersection of athletics and the vocational training I’ve done throughout my career," he says. “It helps expand the field of counseling and shows therapists that there are groups and populations beyond our typical patients who can benefit from our knowledge.”

And for incoming freshmen, Carrere has simple advice: “Pay attention to this program. It can be really helpful, and it’s cool to get this kind of support.”