Career, Networking

By Elisabeth Egnell

Networking means to create relationships, share information or seek potential partners for ventures. In other words, it’s something you do every day. Unlike most other people, professional athletes are in an appreciative situation where a variety of different people are drawn to you. Hence, networking should be easy for us. More specifically, you should have a network with at least 300 people.

"You should have a network with at least 300 people."

Before I tell you why, I want to give you a new perspective and I want you to ask yourself: After everything you have been giving to the sport you love, what will basketball give back to you?

Ok, let’s break it down in numbers now!

Given a career during which you’ve played for five different teams for example, and whether or not you've been a national team player, you have come across a lot of people. In this case, it means you have had at least 55 teammates and 10 coaches.

Only these 65 people are also possible connections that might know someone, that know someone, that know something. But it doesn’t stop there. You have also come across approximately more than 100 sponsors and more than 50 staff members & club workers.

During games and team activities, I hope you have also taken the opportunity to get to know at least a hundred fans.

So, given that you have done your job as a professional player properly, and being professional doesn’t only apply to what you do on the court, you should have at least 300 people who, at some level, know who you are.

These 300 people have a group of contacts of their own, and suddenly you have more or less an indirect link to thousands of potential employees or post- career boosters.

"Start thinking about who you are and what you would like to do before the day you quit playing"

My best advice to do this, is to start thinking about who you are and what you would like to do before the day you quit playing. If you studied business management or maybe thought about becoming a coach in the future- talk to the people who are in this specific field of work. This will make networking much more efficient and even more rewarding
Secondly, prepare yourself by creating and learning your very own elevator pitch. By doing this you're always ready to present yourself in a professional and interesting way. Also, when you talk to people, make sure you ask questions, and turn the conversation around from you to them. All they know about you is based on your basketball profile, and you want to add more content to that.
Finally, always keep an open mind and never say no to a given possibility. For example, talking to young kids at a school, having a basketball training with the annoying friend of one of the sponsors or simply just showing up at a charity event in your local hometown - nothing should be too trivial for you! You never know where it will lead, who you will meet, or what you could learn. And whatever you do, don't expect to get paid by just being nice.

"Never say no to a given possibility"

To sum things up: meeting new people is not only fun and interesting, it can also decide the next 40 years of your life. But you will have to work for it, just like you did to get where you are now as a basketball player. Use the fact that you have been an athlete for most of your life and make all the lifelong learnings basketball has given you to your advantage. And remember, the life of an athlete ends the day you quit playing - so you don’t want to wake up from a dream and then walk right into a nightmare.

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