Corporate Visits
For our scholar-athletes, exposure to new environments, new people, and new professions is vital when navigating their future careers. One way GatorMade is able to do this is through Corporate Visits – intentional trips to headquarters of companies that are not only recognizable to our students, but also value their transferable skills into their respective industries.
EA Sports
Modeled after the NFL Career Tours initiative, the Florida Gators Football team was the first college program to visit in this capacity. Eight departments at EA Sports gave overviews of their work, and students saw firsthand their state-of-the-art game-development technology, including motion-capture labs, laser scanning, and quality verification. A key component of the visit was the pitch competition, where pairs of students presented ideas to EA Sports professionals to be incorporated into future NCAA Football games. Additionally, the group was able to network with the presenters and creators of the Madden and NCAA Football titles — even getting to play NCAA26 before its release alongside those who developed the game.
Nike
In May of 2023, ten football and six women scholar-athletes from the University of Florida visited Nike’s World Headquarters campus in Beaverton, Oregon. While there, students heard from panels within athlete experience, licensing, uniforms, store development and human resources. The group also spent Q&A sessions with Tobie Hatfield from Nike’s Innovation Kitchen and with Howard White, the Vice President for Jordan Brand. While on campus, our scholar-athletes could connect their love of sport and their interest in business, design, and commutation with current employees at Nike. The group was also able to experience the culture of the campus, including a history tour through the DNA Archives, a look at sport science technologies through Nike’s Sports Research Lab, and a yoga session with a Gator Alum.
