Interview with Phillip Laux
Phillip Laux wrestled at the University of Iowa and graduated with his degree in business management with a sustainability certificate. He was born and raised in the Midwest. He grew up involved with multiple sports and family business. He currently works in consulting business specifically with procurement.
Below I have written most of what we talked about but you can listen to the full podcast HERE.
Q: When did you start playing sports?
A: Probably in t-ball in about kindergarten. I started wrestling in 3rd grade. I ran my first 5K in 3rd grade. My first competition in wrestling was in 4th grade and I got into the club team competitions in middle school.
Q: When did you start playing competitive?
A: I grew up going to a small school with a class of 60. With that, I had the opportunity to play multiple sports. I played baseball through 6th grade. Throughout high school I ran cross country in the fall, wrestled in the winter, and ran track in the spring.
The multi sport aspect helps with my horizontal and vertical plane movements. The variation from a physiological perspective helped with not getting injured. I never considered track and cross country my sports. They were sports that I got to be exposed to different environments. I loved being able to be involved with multiple sports. We won a state title my senior year in track and most of the athletes that were my teammates, that was not their first sport. You had multiple division one athletes from other sports that came together for track. I enjoyed being around other high level thinkers and the opportunity to interact with individuals from other sports that I wouldn’t have otherwise. For the cross country prospective it was the same thing. That would contribute to my success in wrestling. It allowed me to have another environment in sport with less pressure.
Q: Do you feel like you would have done a different degree if you weren’t a student-athlete?
A: I definitely would have but not for the reasons most athletes would have. I feel like most athletes would have picked a different major because of the time demand in sports. I would have picked a different major because I grew up in rural Iowa and didn’t have exposure to the variety of majors that you could do. Going back, I would have done business analytics or industrial engineering. I grew up around small business and that’s all I really knew. If I didn’t do wrestling I don’t know what path I would have done and I don’t know if I would have gone to college. Academics were of interest but I might have just graduated high school and started working for the family business. Going to college became a serious thought when coaches started contacting me to be recruited.
Q: How did playing competitive sports shape who you are today?
A: The typical answers of work ethic, time management, persistence. etc. It allowed me to be in circles of people that I wouldn’t have otherwise been in and met people I wouldn’t have otherwise met. Whether they were in wrestling or in other sports, those individuals continue to influence my life and shape it and spur me on to be a better person. It’s not necessarily the personal attributes I developed or learned but the people it introduced me to.
Q: You’ve told me that you’ve had an injury in a summer. How did that affect your wrestling career and does it affect you now?
A: My injury was pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. We always have a competition in the beginning of June in wrestling. I had an injury in the June competition and blew out my knee. It didn’t affect my season but I was in a boot all summer and wasn’t able to get mat time.
Q: What was one of your favorite moments while competing?
A: I can’t really isolate a certain moment. Winning at Carver-Hawkeye Arena was a lot of fun because we got really good crowds of 8-10 thousand. It goes back to the answer I had with how sports have influenced me. The people in my life and the things that I remember about college are the people I spent my time with. Cutting weight with my teammates. Memories with my roommates we lived together for 4 years. I was involved with Athletes In Action and I have really great friends with athletes outside of wrestling. One of my favorite things with Athletes In Action was a summer camp they put on that brings together athletes from all divisions and different sports. It focuses how to incorporate your faith in your sport. We spend a week together learning and training and building relationships. I have those relationships to this day and continue to build those relationships. FCA and Athletes In Action are very similar.
Q: What was the transition out of playing competitive sports like for you? What did you do in your newfound free time?
A: The transition itself wasn’t really hard. From the psychological aspect, it was a challenge and it’s not because sport was where my identity was. You’re so regimented with your schedule and everything ends at the same time with having a sport that ends around the time of graduation. It’s really hard to adjust form being in this super regimented lifestyle. What helped me was having a great support system. You have to wrestle with “what now?”. Surround yourself with the right people and focus on being intentional. In my free time right out of college, I was just focusing on spending time with my friends outside of work. You don’t have to worry about scheduling those things around practice anymore.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who is recently done playing a sport?
A: To build off the answer we just discussed, focus on building relationships and being intentional. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people and say you need help or you’re struggling. Even if I don’t know the person I would love to talk to an individual. The way I see it, it’s our responsibility to help expedite the learning curve for college athletes that are graduating now or people that are in a similar position that we were once in.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who is currently playing a sport?
A: Focus on the process, not the outcome. The end result will take care of itself. Be present. Don’t make things bigger than they are. It’s so easy in college to fret about the smallest things. Nobody cares as much as you care.
Q: Do you have anything else to add?
A: If anybody is transitioning out of college or you’re in college and you need an ear to listen I’m happy to have a call with anybody. I love building relationships and getting to know people.
If you have any more questions for Phillip, please leave comments below or contact me. If you or someone you know is struggling, please call the Suicide Hotline. It’s toll free and available 24/7 at 800-273-8255.
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