海角大神

Alex Deibold is a 31-year-old college freshman who has spent far more time snowboarding than studying.

But that鈥檚 not because he鈥檚 a slacker.

Mr. Deibold is an Olympic bronze medalist. And he鈥檚 gunning for another Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, next month.

Like many elite athletes, his intense training schedule makes it difficult to pursue a traditional education. But Deibold and other American Olympians have harnessed the determination, perseverance, and innovation that makes them great at their sports to get an education along the way 鈥� it just doesn鈥檛 always happen in a classroom. Because of their unique path, they often bring more to their classwork than your average college student.

鈥淚 have a 4.0 GPA because I鈥檝e been around the world and I鈥檝e worked crummy jobs,鈥� says Deibold, who worked as a door-to-door roof salesman after he missed the 2010 Olympic team, and experienced homeowners slamming the door in his face or screaming at him to get off their property. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to dedicate myself to the opportunities that are put in front of me 鈥� instead of being like, 鈥業 gotta go to class, or I don鈥檛 want to do that paper鈥� 鈥� now I have this perspective and it鈥檚 going to help me grind harder.鈥澛�

Traditionally, athletes have competed for one or maybe two Olympic cycles before getting on with 鈥渞eal life.鈥� But as Olympic sporting careers increasingly span three or four or even five Games, athletes and teams are recognizing the value of developing the whole person.

鈥淭he shift has been palpable even in the four years I鈥檝e been here,鈥� says Julie Glusker, head of athlete career and education for US Ski & Snowboard in Park City, Utah. Her office overlooks a huge gym where Olympians are working out and abuts a study hall where they can work on academics in-between training sessions. 鈥淚t went from, 鈥楧on鈥檛 bother the coaches about school鈥� to now, a coach comes to me and says, 鈥楬ey, how is so-and-so doing in this class?鈥� 鈥�

For teams, who invest millions of dollars in developing young athletes, offering education and career advancement opportunities can help them keep medalists and rising stars far longer than they used to. For athletes, academics bring perspective beyond their competition goals, and a springboard for a post-competition career once they retire.聽

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 super intimidating if you鈥檝e been an athlete for awhile and all of a sudden you鈥檙e cutting off sport to go to school,鈥� says Ms. Glusker. 鈥淚鈥檝e had several say that being able to go to school has made them less concerned about retirement because they know there will be a good place to land.鈥�

A boon for parents

More than five dozen US Ski & Snowboard athletes received tuition reimbursement in the past year, according to Glusker, including nearly half the aerials team and almost a third of the alpine team. Their mean GPA was 3.69. In addition, Westminster College, a liberal arts school in Salt Lake City, provides 600 credit hours 鈥� worth roughly $800,000 鈥� free of charge to A and B Team members. Last year, 39 such athletes were enrolled.

For parents of young athletes, such educational opportunities can help ease the decision of forgoing a traditional collegiate experience.

鈥淚f mom and dad are making a decision at age 14 鈥� does Johnny go on the college path or the US Ski Team path? 鈥� we want them to choose the Ski Team path, and know there鈥檚 college with it,鈥� says Tom Kelly, vice president of communications for US Ski & Snowboard.

鈥淭he minute I made the team, my mother and father were very excited because it was essentially a college commitment, too,鈥� says freestyle skier Morgan Schild, who notes that the free tuition is available to athletes for a couple of years post-retirement. 鈥淚 told them I would do at least two years while I was on the team so that by the time I retire I can still finish fully supported by a scholarship.鈥�

As it turned out, Ms. Schild was injured and unable to compete for 22 months, so she actually lived in the dorms freshman year and got a jumpstart on her education. Most of her classmates didn鈥檛 even know about her skiing prowess 鈥� until they attended a World Cup moguls competition in Deer Valley, Utah, a year ago and saw her win gold.聽

鈥淚t was like, 鈥極h yeah, this is what I do for a living actually,鈥� 鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey thought it was the coolest thing in the world.鈥澛�

Weak Wi-Fi in European hamlets聽

When gymnast Ashley Caldwell watched the 2006 Winter Olympics on TV and saw US aerials skier Jeret Peterson land his crazy-hard 鈥淗urricane鈥� jump, she thought, 鈥淚 can do that.鈥� The only problem: she lived in Virginia.

So at 14, she moved north to train on snow. Working diligently through an online program, including during the summers, she finished high school in two years. Then she did a four-year college degree in three years through New York's SUNY Empire State College.聽

鈥淵ou know, traveling the world 鈥� we do a lot of stuff, but you鈥檙e also on the plane for 12 hours at a time. You can get a lot done in 12 hours on a plane,鈥� says Ms. Caldwell. 鈥淚 just brought my textbooks with me and I made it a priority and I just got it done.鈥�

But as athletes advance and begin spending weeks or months on the road in Europe, often in small alpine towns, finding good internet connections can be hard.聽

Erin Hamlin, America鈥檚 best-ever female luger, also enrolled in SUNY Empire, earning a two-year online degree after graduating from high school in 2004. But it took a long time to chip away at her bachelor鈥檚 degree through DeVry University, an online, for-profit university which has committed to $13.5 million in scholarship support for Team USA through 2020.

A couple of Ms. Hamlin鈥檚 teammates were also pursuing an online degree 鈥� but their efforts to study were sometimes thwarted by other teammates who would bog down the weak Wi-Fi networks.

鈥淲e would get so mad if other teammates were playing games online, or downloading movies, or something,鈥� says Hamlin, a four-time medalist at World Championships, and the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in luge. 鈥淲e鈥檙e like, 鈥榃e just really need to submit a paper here. Can you PLEASE get off the internet?鈥� 鈥澛�

Hamlin, who has ranked in the top-10 on the World Cup luge circuit for nearly a dozen years, persevered and finally got her bachelor鈥檚 degree in 2016.

Another kind of education

Having a degree in their pocket when they leave competition helps ease a transition that some athletes find difficult 鈥� being the best in the world at something, and then having to start from virtually zero in a new profession.聽

But other athletes point out that competing at an Olympic level is an education in itself, from the cultures you encounter to the entrepreneurial skills you acquire as a one-person business.聽

鈥淲e鈥檙e our own brands, we have to get sponsors, we have to work on promoting ourselves,鈥� says Joss Christensen, the reigning Olympic champion in slopestyle skiing, who has taken classes at Westminster. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a huge part 鈥� I run two other businesses, I run a website and an app company with my friends鈥�. And it鈥檚 just all these experiences that you have to learn hands-on that I don鈥檛 think I would have been taught in school.鈥�