Our Alumni Spotlight series will be an ongoing feature, highlighting former student-athletes and catching up on where their journeys have taken them after graduation. Priscilla Tallman, former Georgia Volleyball student-athlete, graduated in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and later a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Vanguard University of Southern California in 2005.
Can you tell us about your current career and what you are doing now?
I am currently a homeschool mom and mental performance consultant. I would say the most important work I do is in our home, but the work I am equipped to do with my education, experience and passion is within the mental performance space. With a master’s degree in clinical psychology, I don’t just want athletes or coaches or anyone I work with to have more “tips and tricks” or have more research, I want them to understand how and why they work, play and live the way they do. I hope to also educate in the area of mental health and wellness and give understanding to how our mind, bodies and emotions all work together in performance and in our lives off the court (relationships, friendships, blind spots, habits, etc.).
How did your experience as a student-athlete prepare you for your professional career?
I have had several “professional careers” since I graduated! I played professionally in Europe for one season and then trained to play beach volleyball as well. Once I decided I wasn’t going to play competitively anymore, I worked in the corporate business space for nearly ten years – mostly as a project manager in marketing, sales, even accounting. I finally found my groove in commercial real estate, and, after that land development before pursuing my master’s in clinical psychology. Lots of twists and turns, but after a working career, my husband and I decided to start a family. I have stayed home with the kids since that time and have worked or volunteered in various capacities in freelance writing, coaching and consulting. For the past eight years, I have been more focused on my mental performance consulting business training professional athletes, coaching staffs, keynote presentations and teaching in the area of mental performance and mental health.
What was the most important lesson you learned from balancing academics, athletics, and your personal life during college?
I’m not sure I balanced this well at all during college. School was a challenge to me. It wasn’t until I was in my master’s program with smaller class sizes, more individualized teaching and lots of written work that I started to see where my strengths were; writing, creating, presenting, and group projects. Where I had struggled in undergrad with tests and quizzes, I thrived in a program that emphasized the ability to express ideas in a written format and fully develop the concepts I was learning. I guess the lesson would be that we don’t need to be perfect in everything we do as long as we hold high standards for ourselves and begin to understand our individual strengths and how they work in the world. I work with a lot of athletes that feel the social expectations to be perfect in every aspect of their lives and it causes a lot of anxiety in their performance on and off the court.
What is one thing you wish you had known about life after sports before you graduated?
Hard work is not the only desirable value in work life after sports. A good knowledge and ability to execute skills in social and power dynamics, communication and writing skills, and knowing your personal values are very important to success and fulfillment in work life after sport. Hard work will get you in the room, but social and communication skills will keep you there and open more doors in the process.
Looking back, what advice would you give to current student-athletes who are trying to navigate life after college and sport?
Run your own race. There is a lot of competitive energy still left in you and sometimes it’s easy to compare or pursue things, relationships, lifestyles, etc. that don’t necessarily line up with your values but “look good” on paper. You will end up closer to where you want to be when you understand your values and understand how to get closer to a life that aligns with those values versus comparing your path to someone else. Also, you have time! Slow down. Lastly, stay connected to your alumni groups and teammates. They have been with you through some tough seasons and some amazing and fun seasons. Very few people will fully understand the unique experience a student-athlete has, and staying connected to your athlete friends is so much fun. I have had the honor of becoming friends with some athletes MUCH younger than me and they are the coolest people! While we aren’t in the same life stage, it has been so fulfilling to get to know some of the younger girls and know we are connected by the common thread of playing volleyball at Georgia.
When you think about your time as a Bulldog, what is one moment that stands out the most?
The friends I made back then and the people who are still in my life today. I was fortunate to play a sport with some great people and also belong to a sorority (AOII). I think that balance was important for me. Still having friends from both sports and outside of sports has enriched my life. We have all navigated life, challenges, hardship, joys and successes alike and though I don’t live in the Atlanta area anymore, I still stay connected as best I can with all of our different lives and life stages.
