Some professional football players spend the offseason traveling to exotic vacation spots. Others may frequent golf courses during the day and go clubbing at night.

But Will Svitek takes a different approach. The Atlanta Falcons offensive lineman prefers using his time off for personal growth and enrichment.

Svitek has served internships in the financial industry, returned to school and visited troops in the Middle East.

In February, Svitek completed his second stint with the NFL Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program at Harvard Business School and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Svitek, 28, attended the course at Penn this year after completing the Harvard course two years ago.

“I think you need to branch out a little bit during the offseason and do something else. If you just play this game your brain can kind of rot,” said Svitek, a Newbury Park High and Stanford graduate. “You are not going to play forever and I want to develop myself in the business world along with football.”

The Wharton program emphasized entrepreneurship and business building with an emphasis on real estate.

Svitek joined nearly 30 other NFL players at the four-day course. Their days began at 8 a.m. and often didn’t end until 10 p.m.

They took part in lectures and discussions on topics ranging from the stock market, cost-benefit analysis and analyzing risk management.

They had homework assignments to complete and reading material to study before arriving.

“It was pretty intensive. We basically went through what MBA students do condensed into four days,” said Svitek, whose Stanford degree is in political science. “The biggest thing I learned was everyone wants to dive into business and invest in business, but it takes so much analysis. You have to do your due diligence and be careful. There are so many examples of business plans that sound good and you learn one year later it fails.”

One of Svitek’s classmates at Wharton was Thousand Oaks High graduate David Anderson, who is entering his fifth season as a wide receiver for the Houston Texans.

“It was good to see Dave. He was a couple of years younger than me, but we played football against each other in high school,” Svitek said. “We spent a lot of time together during the week and he turned out to be a great guy. It was fun to brag about Newbury Park versus Thousand Oaks and who was better.”

Versatility has always been a Svitek specialty. He starred in three sports at Newbury Park and was a decathlete in track and field.

The 6-foot-6, 300-pounder was drafted as a defensive end by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2005, but converted into an offensive tackle.

“For someone to be getting the opportunity to start at offensive line in the NFL after having never played that position before the NFL is nothing short of mind-boggling,” said Svitek’s agent, Steve Baker. “Will has a very, very special work ethic.”

Svitek attributes that character trait to his parents.

Svitek was born in 1982 in Prague, in what was then Czechoslovakia. When he was 2, his parents took Svitek and his three brothers out of the Communist country.

They left in secret with no money and only the clothes on their backs. Saying they were on a day hike, they walked for 14 hours through mountains and ended up in Austria. The family spent eight months in a refugee camp until being legalized to come to the United States.

“My parents were hard-working immigrants who came here to achieve the American dream and help their sons reach their full potential,” Svitek said. “I think they instilled it in me to do everything well. I am a competitive person on the field and in the classroom and I don’t think you can just turn that switch off.”

During this year’s Super Bowl, Baker arranged for Svitek to go to the Middle East to visit the troops with another NFL player and two cheerleaders.

The group was supposed to go to Afghanistan, but had to remain at a military base in Qatar after a plane crashed on the runway.

“It was a great experience just being there and doing one of those trips,” Svitek said. “I really appreciate what those guys do and it was great to go there and share stories because they just want to hear about football. At the end of the day, those guys had more of an effect on me than I had on them.”

Baker is not surprised by Svitek’s inclination to dabble in things beyond football.

“The essence of Will is he is totally one-dimensionally focused on becoming the best football player he can be. But at the same time he is maintaining that focus, he wants to better himself for the future as well as make a difference in peoples’ lives,” Baker said. “Being a professional athlete invites you into opportunities that might not otherwise be available, but it’s a limited window and Will knows that.”

Svitek isn’t sure when he will need to employ his business acumen on a full-time basis. He has endured two major shoulder surgeries in his career, but played in 13 games for the Falcons last season and made two starts.

“If you had told me in high school I would be playing in the NFL as an offensive lineman, I would have never believed it,” Svitek said. “Hopefully I can keep playing as long as possible if I can stay healthy because it’s a great job and a great game.”

Svitek will begin training camp with the Falcons on July 30.

Although it’s been a busy offseason for Svitek, he has no regrets. After all, “It’s better than sitting at home watching ‘Oprah’ all day,” he said.