KANSAS CITY - Freed-Hardeman University Athletics recently agreed to a multi-year partnership with Career Athletes. The partnership between Career Athletes and the Freed-Hardeman athletic department provides a national representation of unique networking opportunities and career development resources for current and alumni athletes.
"For some time, we have been looking for a way to assist our student-athletes as they complete their college careers and transition into the workforce," said FHU Athletic Director Mike McCutchen. "Career Athletes seems to be a perfect fit for us. The services they provide will benefit not only our student-athletes but our university as well. We are excited about working with Career Athletes."
This Online Career Community Network will provide benefits such as mentoring, professional networking, virtual career coaching and 12 years of best practices from the leading and largest career services organization assisting athletes, athletic departments and campus career centers. The Freed-Hardeman University "Community Network" consists of current and alumni athletes from the institution as well as local, regional and national employers all managed and monitored by Career Athletes at its home office in the Kansas City area. Individual members of Career Athletes are also able to network with over 65,000 former college athletes from across the nation while having access to over 5,000 career opportunities exclusive to
www.careerathletes.com.
DJ Washington at Career Athletes explains that beyond an athletic department's initiative assisting with career opportunities and educational resources; it also helps when there is already a foundation on campus toward academic success. "We are pleased to assist Freed-Hardeman Athletics with its commitment toward career development of athletes, but it is also just as important to recognize the program's culture of achievement in community service, academic performance and athletic success," shared Washington, Vice President, Career Education and Training. Freed-Hardeman is no stranger to success as indicated by additional achievements during the 2009-2010 academic year:
• Forty four student-athletes were recognized as conference scholar athletes, earning a 3.0 GPA or better.
• Seven student-athletes earned NAIA scholar-athlete recognition with a GPA of 3.5 or better.
• Seventeen players were named All-Conference and four named NAIA All-Americans.
• Volleyball boasted one conference player of the year as well as coach of the year, while men's basketball had both newcomer of the year and freshman of the year.
• Volleyball won the conference regular season and tournament championships, granting them a spot in the opening round of the national tournament.
• Women's Basketball won the conference tournament championship and advanced to the Sweet 16 round of the national tournament.
In addition to the success both on the court and in the classroom, Freed-Hardeman student-athletes were also involved in various community service projects throughout the year. All teams participated in the NAIA's Champions of Character initiative. The soccer team ran a youth clinic in Middleton, Tenn. The volleyball team raised money for a local high school student battling cancer. Both the men's and women's basketball teams read to children at local elementary schools.
