At DME Academy, Sarasota, development is about more than what happens during training or inside the classroom. It is about helping student-athletes see what is possible and giving them opportunities to experience the next level firsthand.

Our full time boys & girls student athletes recently traveled to Florida Southern College in Lakeland for a full college experience built around academics, athletics, campus life and their futures.

The day started with a tour of the Florida Southern campus, giving our students a chance to experience a college environment and begin thinking about what they want their own college experience to look like.

From there, our student athletes had the opportunity to meet with faculty from Florida Southern’s Sport Business Management program, including Dr. Nicholas Nugent, Assistant Professor of Business and Economics and coordinator of the Sports Management program. Dr. Nugent’s background includes research in marketing strategy, international sport marketing and business strategy, making the conversation especially relevant for DME students interested in careers within the sports industry.

The Sport Business Management program at Florida Southern emphasizes real world experience and access to internships across Florida’s massive sports industry, connecting academics with opportunities in professional sports, college athletics, events, marketing and other areas of the business of sport.

That connection is important to what we are building at DME.

We want our student athletes thinking beyond the next practice, game or tournament. Playing college soccer may be part of the goal, but college is also about identifying academic interests, building relationships, exploring careers and preparing for life beyond the game.

Our boys and girls then had the opportunity to meet with the Florida Southern soccer programs and participate in a question and answer session with the coaches. They were able to hear directly about college soccer, expectations, recruiting, academics and what life looks like for an NCAA Division II student athlete.

For aspiring college players, those conversations matter.

There is a difference between hearing coaches talk about college soccer and actually standing on a college campus, seeing the facilities, meeting the people involved and beginning to picture yourself in that environment.

The experience continued with dinner in the Florida Southern dining hall, allowing our students to get another taste of everyday college life before turning the focus back to soccer.

And there was no better way to finish the experience than with a great college soccer match.

Our student athletes watched Florida Southern take on Flagler in a nationally significant NCAA Division II men’s matchup. Florida Southern entered the week ranked No. 19 nationally, while Flagler was No. 24, giving our players an opportunity to watch two Top 25 programs compete in person. Florida Southern delivered an impressive performance, defeating Flagler 4 to 1 and improving to 7 wins and 1 loss on the season.

For our players, watching the match was another learning opportunity. They were able to see the speed of play, physicality, decision making, movement and competitive standard required at the college level after spending the day learning about everything that surrounds being a college student athlete.

That is what made this trip special.

It wasn’t simply a college tour.

It wasn’t simply a soccer game.

It was an opportunity for our student athletes to connect the pieces.

Academics. Athletics. Career opportunities. Campus life. College soccer. Their future.

These are the experiences we want to continue creating for DME Academy Sarasota student athletes. We want them exposed to different colleges, different levels of soccer, different academic programs and different career paths so they can begin determining what fits them best.

The goal is not to tell every student athlete where their path should lead.

The goal is to expose them to enough opportunities that they can dream bigger, ask better questions and eventually choose that path for themselves.

A huge thank you to Florida Southern College, Dr. Nicholas Nugent, the Sport Business Management faculty and the Florida Southern soccer programs for welcoming our student athletes and providing such a valuable experience.

For DME, this is what Do More Everyday looks like beyond the field.