For most collegiate athletes, going pro is just a dream never to
be realized.
After college a few come back to their sport as coaches, but
most move onto professional jobs away from athletics.
However, the paths that athletes take once their college careers
end are as varied as the sports they played ““ some play in
European professional leagues, go to graduate school or even bake
cookies for a living.
This is the case with former UCLA water polo player Dave Parker,
who now owns his own cookie company, Parker’s Crazy Cookies.
While interning in Spain after graduating, Parker sold cookies to
help finance his living situation ““ an idea he carried with
him back to the states.
He bounced ideas off water polo coach Adam Krikorian that
involved making personalized boxes of cookies resembling the
players on the UCLA team, and soon enough was in the business.
He now designs personalized animal-cracker-like cookies for
events such as weddings and for high school sports teams, to whom
he sells boxes by the hundreds.
“They’re like animal cookies, but with
people,” Parker said.
Parker plans on sticking with his cookie company for a while,
but gives credit to his water polo days because without his
dialogues with Krikorian, he might never have started the budding
business.
Similarly to Parker, Krikorian also unexpectedly found himself
in his current occupation.
Krikorian planned on working for a couple of years after
receiving his degree from UCLA in 1997, then getting his MBA and
going into business. However, his plans quickly changed.
“I saw the impact that you can have on the kids (through
coaching),” Krikorian said.
Though he never intended to coach, Krikorian found himself as an
assistant coach on the 1997 team, which went 14-12 ““
UCLA’s second-worst record of the 1990s. The disappointing
season only made Krikorian want to stick with the team even
more.
“That was what got me fired up and motivated to keep
going,” Krikorian said.
Although he was set to go into the “real world”
after graduating, he feels lucky to have been given the opportunity
to coach.
“I feel very, very fortunate,” Krikorian said.
“Right now I’m living a dream.”
For others, the dream has less to do with sports and more with
finding a job.
Senior water polo player Katherine Belden, who plans on
graduating this summer, has no interest in coming back to coach
water polo. Instead, she is looking for a job in either commercial
real estate or banking.
Many athletes carry attributes that translate well into the
business world, Belden said.
Two months removed from her collegiate career, Belden has had an
easy transition away from competition and has found herself with
about six hours of free time every day without structured practices
to attend.
Playing water polo has helped her not only to win national
championships ““ of which she won three ““ but also to
learn important lessons about time management, organization, work
ethics, leadership and teamwork.
“You have to be able to compromise to work well with
people,” Belden said.
According to Krikorian, preparing his athletes for life after
competition is his fundamental goal.
“That’s probably my most important job,” he
said, “more important than winning championships.
That’s what I take so much pride in. Seeing players come back
and taking things they learned. (Playing water polo) takes so much
hard work and commitment that it really prepares them well for life
later on.”
The two most important aspects that Krikorian tries to impart to
his players for them to carry into their post-collegiate lives are
teamwork and confidence.
“They should all be more confident than anyone else once
they leave here,” he said. “Nothing is going to be more
difficult. It’s about as hard and fun as it’s going to
get. You also have to learn to work with people to be successful.
Most everything you do in life requires teamwork.”