Second-Chance Athletes

When Amelia Gibbs arrived for her first practice with the UChicago women’s volleyball team, she had a surprise waiting for her—her former high school teammate and favorite setter, Hillary Cheung.  

“The bond between a setter and a middle is very important,” Gibbs says. “They used to call us ‘Chibbs’—a mash-up of our last names. We were so excited to be Chibbs for another season.”  

Gibbs had no idea she’d have this second chance when the pandemic wiped out her freshman year season at Dartmouth. “Instead of the close-knit team environment I had envisioned, I found myself alone in my dorm room on Zoom,” she says.  

When she discovered a passion for finance during two wealth management internships, she was determined to make up for lost time in the Master in Management Program. “I was looking for a great business school with a great volleyball team, and I found both of those in Booth.”  

Waking up at 5 a.m. for practice before 8:30 classes wasn’t always easy, but playing volleyball actually fostered better relationships with faculty. “Because I had to miss classes to compete, I had to proactively communicate with my professors, and it led to closer relationships than I would have had otherwise,” Gibbs says.  

Getting another year to play led to its own triumphs. At one memorable game during the University Athletic Association Championship, Gibbs sprained her pinky but still rallied to help the Maroons win against Carnegie Mellon to take third overall in the league.  

“Playing volleyball has instilled in me a resilience and drive to achieve that will benefit me throughout my professional life,” Gibbs says. Upon graduation, she will take a position as an analyst in the Finance Management Rotation program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where she’s excited to make a tangible difference in patients’ lives.

Playing football as a Booth student was déjà vu for Braedon Junker, AB ’23, who was captain of the football team while an undergrad at the University of Chicago before his sophomore year was disrupted by the pandemic.  

“It was pretty difficult to collaborate as a team when we were all wearing masks,” says Junker. “We ended up not having a competitive season, even though we still practiced.”  

A Cincinnati native, Junker is a first-generation college student who’s specializing in finance in the Master in Management Program. An undergraduate internship at the Zurich-based financial services firm UBS got him interested in finance as a way to help families facing difficult financial circumstances. “I want to be able to help families like my own in saving for college and planning for the future,” he says.  

Returning to the UChicago football team, Junker was able to mentor his undergraduate teammates, some of whom he’d played with in the past. “A lot of the younger guys looked up to me—even when they were calling me old,” he laughs.  

Football also helped Junker blow off steam in the midst of Booth’s demanding curriculum. “It kept me grounded,” he says. “When I was exhausted from doing case studies or prepping for interviews, getting on the field helped me clear my head. I could just focus on what makes me happy—playing some football and hanging out with the guys.” 

The rigor of competitive sports also helped prep him for an eventual career in wealth management or portfolio asset management. “It prepared me to handle complexity, navigate team dynamics, and work under pressure,” he says. “Attending business school while playing football taught me how to lead, how to adapt, and how to persist when the stakes are high. I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.”  

Uday Narottam started playing baseball at age 6. He was in the midst of an undefeated season his senior year of high school when COVID intervened. Even worse, his freshman season at Harvard was canceled. When it came time to apply to business school, he knew baseball had to be part of the experience.  

“I couldn’t let my 6-year-old self down,” he says. “I had to finish on my own terms.” 

Narottam developed an interest in business from his father, who came to the United States from India with almost nothing and built a successful real estate business. “Watching him work, sacrifice, and succeed instilled in me a deep respect for business as a tool of transformation,” he says.  

In Booth’s Master in Management Program, Narottam has pursued his own entrepreneurial journey by launching Mile 5 Capital, a startup focused on acquiring and scaling home service businesses. Far from being a hindrance, playing baseball while pursuing his degree has only helped him excel.  

“Competitive sports forced me to be efficient with my time and laser focused in everything I did,” he says. “The discipline, perseverance, and leadership required in baseball directly translated into my success in the classroom. Whether breaking down a pitch sequence or a financial model, you need focus, preparation, and the ability to execute under pressure.”  

Playing for UChicago also helped him bond with Christopher Stewart, assistant professor of accounting and a Fama Faculty Fellow, an avid Chicago sports fan. “His class sharpened my analytical thinking and had a real-world relevance to my future in business,” Narottam says of Internal Information for Strategic Decisions. “The fact that we bonded over a shared love of sports made the experience more meaningful.”  

Narottam tasted victory as UChicago’s baseball team broke the school record for wins and clinched its first-ever NCAA tournament berth this past year. He’s hoping to feel the same rush of success after graduation as he steps into a full-time management role at Mile 5 Capital.

Julius Rauch was enrolled in one of Europe’s foremost soccer training and development programs, Borussia Dortmund’s U19 Academy, when Germany went into lockdown in March 2020, dashing his hopes. “Soccer has always been a central part of my life,” says Rauch, who grew up playing with his dad and brothers in the backyard in Düsseldorf.  

He pivoted to attend college at Syracuse as a student-athlete, coming in as a sophomore in August 2021. After lockdown ended, he helped Syracuse win an NCAA Division I soccer championship before graduating in the top 12 of his 4,000-person class in 2024.  

Developing an interest in finance as an undergraduate, he was excited to be able to play another year of soccer as he pursued the Master in Finance Program at Booth.  

“Representing UChicago soccer while engaging deeply with the world-class Booth curriculum created a daily standard of discipline, teamwork, and high performance,” says Rauch, who spent weekends traveling across the Midwest for conference matches and evenings preparing cases and presentations for class. “Balancing two demanding commitments strengthened my leadership abilities, resilience, and time-management skills. More importantly, it fostered a deep appreciation for the supportive community Booth provides, where athletes are encouraged to thrive.” 

Rauch was particularly inspired by the Corporation Finance and Quantitative Portfolio Management courses, respectively taught by Anil K Kashyap, the Stevens Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Finance, and Ralph S. J. Koijen, the AQR Capital Management Distinguished Service Professor of Finance and a Fama Faculty Fellow. Both courses helped prepare him for a career in investment banking, private equity, or financial advisory after graduation. Wherever he ends up, he knows that the time he spent playing soccer in business school will only help him succeed.  

“In soccer, no matter how much you train, success on game day is never guaranteed. That reality mirrors the rigor of Booth’s curriculum,” he says. “Both worlds teach you that preparation is nonnegotiable, setbacks are inevitable, and true success is achieved through perseverance, teamwork, and joy for the journey.”  

Read about more athletes from the specialized masters programs in “A Banner Year for Student-Athletes.”