Career at NIKE - Filip Jalový success story

Filip, what steps led you to study at an American university?

I studied gymnasium in the Czech Republic and was a top athlete, running. The school was accommodating when it came to frequent training and regular training camps. My sporting ambitions were really high at the time, so I devoted almost all my time to running. That's why it was a great liberation for me when I graduated. Right after high school, I decided to take a year off from my studies and focus on sports. After a year, I wanted to enter a university in the Czech Republic, but I failed the admissions process. Thanks to my international start in athletics, I received an offer from the University of Iowa in the US at that time, which said they wanted to offer me a scholarship.

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So you went there?

In the end, no. It gave me the great idea to try to study abroad. But I wanted to be completely independent, so my condition was a full scholarship so that I wouldn't have to pay any higher costs when I moved to America. This university didn't offer such an option, so I started looking at many others. Thanks to my athletic results, I finally got the opportunity to get a full scholarship at Tennessee State University. That's where my steps were headed.

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Did you arrange the entire transfer yourself?

Yes. There were dozens of emails to different universities. The University of Tennessee helped me very well with the transfer and I must say that the transfer was smooth from an organizational point of view.

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But how challenging was it for you, a twenty-one-year-old man at the time, psychologically?

At first, it's a huge culture shock. You've been used to a certain environment your whole life, where you have a support system in the form of family, friends or people you do sports with. All of this suddenly disappears quickly, you get off at the airport with one suitcase and are completely alone in a new environment. The first months were very challenging for me, I called home with tears in my eyes, saying I had nothing or no one to lean on. Another inconvenience is of course the language, it takes a while to really communicate in a way that makes everyone understand each other. The first semester was like a cleansing from hell for me, before I found solid ground under my feet.

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How did you do in athletics at first?

The university saw me as a product. They invested a lot of money in a boy from Europe, so I felt a lot of pressure to achieve good results. Hand in hand with that pressure was the fact that you are of course used to a certain training regime from your environment. But when things suddenly worked differently overseas, it was another change that I had to deal with. Nevertheless, my first semester, in terms of athletics results, was successful. Thanks to this, I gained a good negotiating position for the following years.

How difficult was the school?

I studied sports management, I enjoyed school. On a global scale, it can be said that an American university is easy for someone with good organizational skills. Today I know that not everyone is able to be organized, it was America that taught me that. In terms of content, I found the curriculum easy to understand. In America, you won't be overwhelmed with hundreds of textbooks whose texts you would quickly forget. Here, there was less, but everything was much more practical.

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Are you talking about the organization, how did it work specifically?

Students choose the subjects they will attend and, most importantly, the times they will attend individual classes. In addition, athletes are given priority for training. If a person has this organizational ability, they can complete all subjects in three days a week, so that they have time for training every day and the remaining two days to devote even more time to sports or regeneration. Athletes were thus almost 100% sure that their daily schedule would look the way they chose. Time is then used effectively, also because the school and sports center are located on the same campus, so there is no need to spend a long time traveling.

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In your case, what was the university's approach to sports?

There, it was different for each person. The pace was set by the head coach, who had been at the university for decades and was known for the fact that every training session was exactly the same. That was quite mentally demanding for me, because it wasn't the rhythm I was used to. In the Czech Republic, I was at a certain level of sports, so if I felt tired, I could postpone training. Here, no one paid attention to that. Either a person is injured and out of it, or they train as they say and can't get out of training.

So how was your life after completing four years at university?

After graduating, I returned to the Czech Republic and spent some time thinking about my next steps. I couldn't find an internship or a job in America and I wanted to find a job, so I stayed in the Czech Republic and started working for Decathlon, where my connection to a sports company made the most sense, given my interests and my field of study. I spent six years at the company and was promoted four times.

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You have been working for the global American company Nike in the Czech Republic since the beginning of this year. How did you get there?

I responded to the advertisement and after a five-round admissions process in English, I finally succeeded. I have the honor of running a store near the Prague airport together with a team of seventeen people. I strive for the efficiency of their work, the results of the store, new ideas and the satisfaction of my team. I can say that I learned all this through sports and studying in America.

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So what has your study abroad given you in life?

Definitely organization and the ability to plan well. Of course, independence. At first, you hit rock bottom because you're suddenly alone and have to overcome all the pitfalls without help. But when you can do it, there's a huge power in that. I also really value my contacts and my university degree, my command of English. Sport has given me great use in my working life, specifically organization, teamwork and team leadership, which I use at Nike.

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What would you recommend to young Czech athletes who are also hesitant about studying in America?

It's worth it! Everyone who does any sport at some level should try to travel because it's worth it. They were some of the best years of my life and I remember them very fondly.

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