Serious question - fantasy football skills translating to real life

[Anonymous]

Ok, bear with me.

My teen loves fantasy football and serving as the commissioner for his league that has existed since the boys were in 5th grade. For those of you that know fantasy football leagues, you know it's about more than just liking football. Here are the fantasy football things he excels at and loves:

- the research statistical analysis of who he should play each week (he reads others' statistical analysis, he isn't doing data analytics on his own)
- negotiating trades. He is constantly negotiating trades with other people. A lot of research goes into this re: injuries, future opponents, etc
- being the mediator between other members of the league and giving advice on good trades or not, he is very committed to running a fair league and does not play favorites. Commissioner has to approve trades and he makes sure no one is getting swindled.
- the competitive nature of it - loves to win
- he loves sports and football (does not play it, he plays other sports competitively).

He doesn't really know what he wants to study in college or do...but I think business?? This is not my world at all (liberal arts major here) so would appreciate any advice on economics, business, finance?? I hear sports management programs are not really worthwhile; is that true?

[Anonymous]

The skills you highlight indeed can come from engaging in Fantasy Football. That said, I would not assume that because he enjoys it and is gaining skills he necessarily wants to major in business as the skills could be useful in a variety of fields; Politics, Research, Social Studies, Business, Consulting, Biomedical Engineering, etc.

Instead, I suggest exposing him to the idea of a variety of fields and inquiring about what he likes to do and study.

[Anonymous]

This is a stretch.

Its like the kids that say video games improve their hand eye coordination.

I'm not sure much of this translates as much as you think it does

[Anonymous]

This describes half the people who I went to business school with, OP.

The classmates who were decently talented at the people stuff but brilliant at stats and modeling (the first thing you listed) leveraged their skills to go into careers that involved:

-working in corporate strategy at a Vegas-based casino
-working for a company that provides consulting services to major league sports teams to help them match ticket prices and promotions to their schedule and seating charts
-working for a talent agency focused on sports and entertainment
-working for a TV network and doing a lot of negotiations

What that path looked like after HS:

If they're really smart, they went to an ivy and majored in Econ and did consulting or banking right out of graduation and then went after an MBA. Then you have the skills to continue with 2-3 years of consulting at a McKinsey, Bain or BCG before corporations are willing to hire you straight to the sexy stuff.

If they were just very smart, they got a BBA at a really strong undergrad with great recruiting and went into consulting, banking, or did data science-related stuff for start-ups.

However, there are a lot more paths to achieve this than when I went through the gauntlet a decade ago. I agree with the advice that sports management is not the way to go and business, finance or Econ will provide more options.

The most important thing is to network and seek out opportunities where you can stand out. In other words, don't chase a program where you'll be a small fish in a big pond. Go where they want you as much as or more than you want them. The key to a business career is to put yourself where you can find mentors and sponsors to help pull you through the early and middle stages of your career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This describes half the people who I went to business school with, OP.

The classmates who were decently talented at the people stuff but brilliant at stats and modeling (the first thing you listed) leveraged their skills to go into careers that involved:

-working in corporate strategy at a Vegas-based casino
-working for a company that provides consulting services to major league sports teams to help them match ticket prices and promotions to their schedule and seating charts
-working for a talent agency focused on sports and entertainment
-working for a TV network and doing a lot of negotiations

What that path looked like after HS:

If they're really smart, they went to an ivy and majored in Econ and did consulting or banking right out of graduation and then went after an MBA. Then you have the skills to continue with 2-3 years of consulting at a McKinsey, Bain or BCG before corporations are willing to hire you straight to the sexy stuff.

If they were just very smart, they got a BBA at a really strong undergrad with great recruiting and went into consulting, banking, or did data science-related stuff for start-ups.

However, there are a lot more paths to achieve this than when I went through the gauntlet a decade ago. I agree with the advice that sports management is not the way to go and business, finance or Econ will provide more options.

The most important thing is to network and seek out opportunities where you can stand out. In other words, don't chase a program where you'll be a small fish in a big pond. Go where they want you as much as or more than you want them. The key to a business career is to put yourself where you can find mentors and sponsors to help pull you through the early and middle stages of your career.

This is so helpful - thank you!

My son is good at math and really likes it, but I actually think he is more talented at the people skills. Writing is his biggest struggle. Love your advice about being a bigger fish in a small pond. Any insight into schools that fit that bill that we should look at?