Impact for Generations
from Simon-Pier to Julien Frascadore
October 16, 2025 — Just a few months ago, a prospective employer encouraged Julien Frascadore to pursue his athletic career and make the most of it. The judoka from Quebec City followed the advice to the letter, having just won silver at the Lima Grand Prix, his best result to date!
By François-Olivier Roberge
While intensely pursuing his career on the tatami, the judoka is not worried about the day he sets high-level sport aside, quite the contrary. With a bachelor's law degree and his Bar admission now in hand, this Aléo Foundation scholar within the National Bank Program confirms it: the high-level athlete profile is highly valued in the job market.
«As part of the articling recruitment process after my bachelor's degree and the Bar, I managed to secure an articling position at a large firm! According to my contract, I was supposed to be there this summer. Then, when I mentioned to them that I wanted to continue my sport for another 3 years and postpone my articling, they were super understanding. They even told me: ‘You only get one athletic career, so push hard, keep going for as long as you want, and you can come work with us afterward.‘
To prove that it is not a worn-out cliché, the experience of a high-level athlete is recognized, appreciated, and valued in the job market. This is a reality that Julien clearly understood when he met with various law firms.
«Athletes have sought-after qualities: discipline, rigor, stress management, time management. We have an ease in identifying the objective and the essentials. Employers sense this,» he specified during our interview at the end of the summer.
So I don't spend my time gamer
«I don't think there is a single recipe, but I found mine: more school than less, to get my head out of sport. It's my balance. My path.» A journey that led Julien to complete his bar admission at age 25.
After narrowly missing his Olympic selection in the spring of 2024, the Beauport-born athlete served as a training partner all the way to Paris, watching from very, very close as his teammates lived out his Olympic dream. It was an emotional experience that has motivated him more than ever to keep pushing for another four-year cycle.
Then, during the following year, in addition to his judo schedule, Julien completed his bar admission course with the studying, exams, and stress that this major professional milestone entails. To achieve this, he even declined participation in the World Championships.
«It wasn't an easy choice, but I think it was the right one. I really wanted to focus on finishing my bar exam well, at the start of this new Olympic cycle, in order to now put that behind me.»
Aléo, the scholarship holder, is now heading uncompromised toward the ultimate goal: qualification for the Los Angeles Olympic Games. His freshly won silver medal in Peru confirms that he is on the right track!
But even with her law degree completed, why change a winning formula?
«I love learning. So I am continuing my studies. I am taking preparatory courses for the Master in Taxation at HEC Montréal. It's my balance, so I don't spend my time gamer», he imagines.
With the Aléo Foundation since 2016
At the beginning of his time as an Aléo bursary recipient, young Julien Frascadore received a scholarship from the Georges St-Pierre Foundation in 2016. «I remember that scholarship well. I had gone up to Montreal. Meeting GSP is memorable. All the scholarship recipients demonstrated our sport, and I threw him to the mat.»
Thanks to the National Bank’s scholarship program, Julien has been continuing his work with the Aléo Foundation for the past four years, receiving annual scholarships of 4,000 $.
«We are really lucky to have the Aléo Foundation supporting us, from a young age in my case and still today! Without the support, I simply wouldn't have succeeded, with my move to Montreal at 17. I was able to compete more to keep progressing.»
Impact for Generations
Before Julien, another Frascadore was a recipient of the Aléo Foundation scholarship, also through the National Bank program: his older brother, Simon-Pier, in 2011.
Generations of impact. The theme of our philanthropic campaign embodied here by the Frascadore brothers.
«There is a good age gap between us, and he was the spark. I used to follow him to the dojos and I wanted to do the same as him. He quit judo several years ago now, but even today, judo helps us maintain a strong bond. He is the first person I talk to before and after my competitions. Whether it is a good or bad result. He often acts as the link with my family to help them keep up. We really have a wonderful bond. Someone who has experienced high-level sport to understand me.»
Sophie's Word – Knowing how to be good everywhere!
When talking about our student-athletes, people often ask us how they manage to be good at sports while succeeding just as much in their studies. Well, here is the key: knowing how to transfer one's skills from one domain to another. And it's the same thing for the working world! Julien demonstrates not only that he manages to transfer his skills from the tatami to the school benches, but also to the job market. Some employers already know how to spot this in their athlete candidates and do not hesitate to bring them onto their team, knowing everything that their life experience can bring. For other employers who know less about sports, it is then up to the athlete to clearly explain, during the job interview, everything they were able to develop thanks to their experience in sports, how they managed to transfer it to their studies, and above all, how this can be a significant asset in the job market. And of course, we are here to help them build this narrative and transfer their various skills acquired beyond sports.
But how does this happen? When competing at a high level, you have to invest many hours in your sport. Preparation, training, visualization, travel. Athletes are passionate people; they wake up and fall asleep thinking about their sport. It can therefore be difficult to disconnect, especially if you have had a bad practice or a poor performance and need to get your mind back in the right place. Athletes are therefore advised to find something else, something that can help take their minds off things, so they don't burn out by thinking about only one thing. For many athletes, school plays this role. It allows them to think about something else, to quickly disconnect from the sport to focus on other elements, meet other people, and discuss a topic other than their latest results. But what they don't always realize is that, in addition to allowing them to disconnect, being in school allows them to transfer the skills acquired in sport (concentration, stress management, discipline, time management, etc.) and apply them in another setting, namely studies and, subsequently, the professional world.
