TODAY AT ELON — If you want to get a head start in a career representing professional athletes, there may be no better model to copy than Elon Law student Hannah Valente L’22. Valente, 23, has set her sights on earning a law degree and advising basketball players ever since a high school back injury redirected her interests from competing on the court to the business of the game itself. As of this month, the president of Elon Law’s Sports and Entertainment Law Society is a step closer to that goal. Valente recently joined the ranks of player agents certified by the National Basketball Players Association, making the New Jersey native one of the youngest people in the nation allowed to represent athletes in NBA contract negotiations. “Once I learned about the role of a sports agent, and what a ‘day in the life’ looked like, I was hooked,” said Valente, a graduate of Providence College in the Big East Conference where she was a manager for the Division One men’s basketball team. Earning her player agent certification was no fait accompli. For the past few years, the National Basketball Players Association has required prospective agents to pass an exam that measures their knowledge of a complex collective bargaining agreement between the union and the league.