These are 3 popular college-educated athletes

The life of an elite athlete will always be different from that of any ordinary person since most of them practice some discipline since childhood and there comes a time when they must decide to study or work since they are professionals in the sport they practice. In the case of these 3 athletes, they were already on the way to becoming stars, therefore you might think that they did not have time to study, much less to graduate with a university degree, but although little is said about it, these renowned athletes have an academic profession outside of sport.

Shaquille O'Neal

The former NBA hall of fame basketball player and recognized as one of the greatest players in history also has a bachelor's degree and even a doctorate. O'Neal came to the University of Louisiana in 1990 where he was part of the basketball team, but due to his high performance in 1992 he went to the NBA, thus halting his college career, according to ABC.

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However, the American basketball player would persevere in order to finish his studies, so in parallel to his career and through distance studies he managed to graduate in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts. After his retirement, he took the opportunity in 2011 to do a doctorate in "Learning and leadership specialized in Human Resources" at the University of Berry, where his thesis was the topic "How leaders use humor or seriousness to lead."

Giorgio Chiellini

The Juventus footballer has not only had to defend his team on the field but also had to defend his studies at the university. In 2010, the same year that he was named Serie A defender of the year, Chiellini also completed his BA in Economics and Commerce at the University of Turin, where he used his club as part of his thesis called “The budget of a sports society, the case of Juventus Football Club.” The defender decided to expand his studies and in 2017 he did a doctorate at the same university on Business Administration and Management, where he would once again work with Juventus on his thesis "The business model of Juventus FC from an international point of reference," according to Sport.

Venus Williams

The American tennis player, winner of 7 Grand Slam and 4 Olympic gold medals, graduated in Fashion Design at the Fort Lauderdale Institute of the Arts in 2007 and then as a Bachelor of Business Administration from Indiana University that finished in 2015. Williams has taken advantage of these studies to found and manage her sportswear brand EleVen by Venus, also created a luxurious interior design company specialized in hotels and tennis clubs, called V-Starr Interiors.

Studies make better athletes

Although it can be considered that studying takes time away from athletes, the newspaper As reports that carrying out educational careers in parallel with sports can improve the competitiveness of athletes. An analysis carried out by Professor David Lavallee, Ph.D. in Sports Psychology, who studied the careers of 632 Rugby players in Australia for three years, determined that those rugby players who were preparing their sports transition through studies obtained more titles in matches and a longer career in sport, for this reason, more and more sports clubs encourage their players to complete some academic study.