Before becoming an SHL player, Tig Murphy was also a rising star in the rugby scene in Ireland as well as a member of multiple academic clubs in high school. He won a U16 world championship as the star hooker on the Irish national rugby squad, but after choosing hockey as his main focus, decided to retire from rugby while on top. However, he also stressed having a focus on an academic career as a fallback in case hockey never worked out. This led him to participate in things like his high school's Physics Olympiad and achieve perfect scores on his standardized testing. This would be his message to the school kids he'd be speaking to - education is incredibly important, no matter how good at non-academic pursuits one is. By putting yourself in a position where you're covered in case of injury, a career not quite working out, or even just not wanting to pursue it anymore, you prevent yourself from falling on hard times with limited options.