Sports had always been Noel’s favorite part of school, and her athletic prowess was rivaled only by her strong sense of camaraderie. Hoping to continue advancing her experience as a high school student athlete, she knew it was time to start building a strong resume—but how?
Since, as a student, she lacked professional athletic experience, Noel knew she’d have to use her academic achievements in place of a job history. Fortunately, we cover exactly how to leverage resume templates in your favor—so Noel was all set to highlight her quantifiable accomplishments and make the next team.
By browsing our guides, resume examples, and seasoned cover letter writing tips for success, you can make a great impression with your high school student athlete resume and progress toward your athletic goals, too!
What Matters Most: Your High School Student Athlete Skills & Work Experience
The first question you’re probably wondering is, where do you start when listing the top skills on your resume?
While you may have several transferable skills, you must choose the right skills for each opportunity you apply to. Review job descriptions and requirements to pick out specific abilities organizations are seeking.
For instance, if you’re applying to work at a gym, your sports nutrition or athletic training knowledge may help you stand out in the hiring process.
Here are some top high school student athlete resume skills.
9 top high school student athlete skills
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Leadership
- Time Management
- Microsoft Office
- Sports Nutrition
- Athletic Training
- Active Listening
- Multi-Tasking
Sample high school student athlete work experience bullet points
While you may not have tons of traditional work experiences yet to list in this section, you will have tons of athletic and educational experiences you can put here. The key is to format them in the right way.
Each example should have a number illustrating what you achieved. For instance, you could put GPA or placement in a competition.
Also, you don’t need tons of information about each example. One sentence about how you communicated effectively with teammates to reduce coverage mistakes can go a long way.
Here are a few samples:
- Scheduled 2 hours daily to study for classes around practice schedules to maintain a 3.7 GPA during the basketball season.
- Stayed an extra hour every day after practice working on completing contested catches to reduce dropped passes over the season by 40%.
- Created a data-based PowerPoint presentation for a history project about the development of the U.S. Constitution, receiving a 98% overall grade.
- Practiced appropriate nutritional and training plans to reduce 40-yard dash time by 18% during the offseason.
Top 5 Tips for Your High School Student Athlete Resume
- Optimize with action words
- As an athlete, you’re used to taking action to make big plays in significant moments of the game. You can make your examples of what you achieved in school and athletically sound more engaging with action words like “performed” and “collaborated.”
- Aim to fill up a complete page
- An optimal high school student athlete resume will be one full page of relevant information. If you’re having trouble finding additional details, try to apply educational achievements, non-traditional work like volunteering, or applicable hobbies & interests.
- Use an objective
- Student athletes without much work experience can benefit from an objective to provide additional relevant details. For instance, you could write about how you’re eager to apply your four years of collaborative experience on the soccer team to be an excellent team member at the workplace.
- Use numbers whenever possible
- As an athlete, you know the importance of optimizing numbers for top performance. Use metrics whenever possible, like grades or efficiency.
- Include a mix of hard and soft skills
- Most entry-level positions will find it acceptable to list some soft skills like communication when you’re a student athlete without much traditional work experience. However, you should still try to mix in some hard skills like Microsoft Office or athletic training plans that make your abilities stand out.
When making a cover letter, aim to explain how you’ll use your top skills in the position and relate to the organization’s mission. For instance, you could say you’re eager to join the organization’s team-focused workforce to provide an excellent customer experience.
Reverse chronological formatting will work best. It lists your most recent experiences first, which will be your most relevant abilities in teamwork and leadership as you’ve grown as a student and athlete.
Each job you apply to will have unique requirements, so you should customize the skills you list for each one. For instance, a grocery store may need you to help with stocking, whereas a position as a lifeguard at a local pool will need help enforcing safety rules and regulations.
