New St. Mary’s University program sets student athletes up for success when college sports end

Maddie Wilsey went through college at St. Mary’s University with a ready-made group of friends for support: the 30-some members of the women’s hockey team.

Then she graduated.

“When you leave that aspect of life behind, you are out on your own,” she said of ending her college sports career and stepping out into the real world. “It’s very different.”

The private university in Winona, Minn., is trying to help its athletes with that transition, with a new initiative called Game Plan for Life. The program, which launched in 2024 as a trial with the men’s and women’s hockey teams, is now in its first full year. It includes eight female and eight male student athletes from seven of the school’s 17 athletic teams.

St. Mary’s athletic director Brian Sisson said the buy-in from student athletes was immediate during the trial program. With the continuation of Game Plan for Life, Sisson said he hopes it shows other universities how to speak to student athletes about moving forward outside of the academic and athletic space.

“Most student athletes coming in here, they’re playing for the love of the game, they’re not getting athletic scholarships,” Sisson said. “The timing of this sets them up for the bridge and helps with the life skills that, sometimes, they’re not learning in middle or high school.”

Evidence shows that student athletes have different struggles, both physically and psychologically, from other students as they move from college to career, said Erin Reifsteck, associate professor and department chair of kinesiology at the University of North Carolina Greensboro who studies the transition.

“You’re losing that community, the connection to other people,” Reifsteck said. “You’re no longer able to demonstrate your competence in a sport that you’ve been involved with since you were five years old.”

Programs focused on student athletes’ transitions are uncommon, Reifsteck said. But there is a broader recognition now of the differences for athletes, she said, following famous athletes like Serena Williams publicly discussing retirement.

Game Plan for Life begins with a long-weekend retreat. Classes cover a variety of topics, including financial literacy, nutrition, relationships and communication, and career development.

After the retreat, the cohorts split by gender and meet with coaches Kylene Ruth and Jay Millar once a month virtually.

“It was a really good way to invest in myself and in my future,” Wilsey said of the meetings tailored to her needs. “You get a lot of resources that you don’t even realize are going to be beneficial until down the road, like budgeting spreadsheets.”

The Kiemels’ twin sons, Noah and Nick, participated in the program’s trial run in spring 2024. Noah said the program taught him how to make connections professionally and personally and “build a locker room” outside of hockey.

For Nick Kiemel, the program helped the most when he was job hunting. He said the program helped him show his strengths when he applied and interviewed, and the support from his fellow former athletes changed how he saw himself.

“During the calls, I didn’t feel like I was alone in my post grad struggles to find a job,” he said.

Ruth, one of the program’s coaches, said Game Plan for Life shows students the university cares about them as people, not just as athletes.

“It says a lot that the institution is interested in you as a holistic individual, not just how many points you can score or whatever the equivalent is for your athletic endeavor,” she said. “That trust that gets built, and this idea of I’m a valuable individual, it just breeds excitement.”