Player Development Messaging
Today we dive into communicating what YOU do and HOW you will lead YOUR player development program.
What is player development?
What is it you do again?
When I heard these questions in the role, there were times when I felt like the person asking really wanted to know why I was there and needed for the student-athletes.
So early on in my career when I was asking myself the question of what I do in this role, I settled on what it is I must do (job responsibilities), what it is I can do (autonomy and athlete input), and how will I get this done (the plan).
As an unashamed nerd, I sat down put all these thoughts down on paper and came up with the program name Beyond the Field, but I was still missing the clarity one practices when an elevator pitch is created.
Thankfully my guy Robert Ramirez stepped in and put me through one of his workshops and those pages of notes became a quick message which provided immediate clarity and understanding. I will break down after you watch this video.
First off, thank you Kevin Berg for creating this video during my time in the Director of Player Development role with Kansas Football. ROCK CHALK!
I will break this video down into three parts:
The First 15
The first 15 seconds is IT! This is what I used in my interview, this what I used when coaches asked me about the role, this is what I used with other staff on campus, this is what I used in recruiting, and this is what I used when I was creating connections to help our players.
Funny story - I was visiting my wife one day at work when we had some time off from football, one of her coworkers saw my KU gear on and asked did I graduate from KU. I let him know I did not, we then got into conversation where I communicated, I was a part of the football staff. When I told him my title, he said LOULDY in the office, “OH, YOU’RE THE BABYSITTER!”.
I can still see the look on my wife’s face, as the fire burned in me and I began turning green (I kid or did I begin turning green), I took a deep breath and let him know as I had many others over the years what my department did for players. This situation went from one that could have gotten him Hulk smashed to a conversation where he started thinking about his contacts and people he knew who graduated from KU. This happened because I was able to communicate clearly the impact my role could make.
I was able to tell him exactly how impact would be created.
The Middle Video - :16 -1:01
This part of the video I go from detailing the structure and guiding communication of the program to how student-athletes could actualize the impact in the current moments of their lives. Communicating is a strength of mine and over the years I have found out that after detailing the big picture it is good to then talk about how it can happen in the present. This is shared with the viewer as the dive of understanding into the player development program is deeper.
The Final 21
The future, during this part of the video I talk about the future impact on the student-athletes as I discuss what perfection would look like for those who come through our program. Now watching it over again some five years later I may have added some things, but it helps close perfectly the time I had to communicate player development.
The main mission of the player development is followed by the current impact being made and then close out by what the future will entail.
If this newsletter topic has helped you, but you want to dive deeper into creating a specific message for your player development program, my Player Development Messaging course is on pre-sell: Player Development Messaging
Friday VIDEOS: Why? How? Outcome?
Why?
Communicating clearly what you do in player development is beneficial to the way your department is perceived. This communication will not only guide you, your department, but it will also guide the understating of your importance in the role. Clarity of what you do, will help create and open many doors with those who now understand what you do and how they can help.
How?
Sit down and figure out the impact you can create in the role. Think about what you would want the players to say about you in the role 10 years from now. Once you land on the impact you would want to have and the answer you would want to hear from you athletes. Craft a one liner or elevator pitch that will help you communicate those two together.
Once it is clear and you know it and have mastery over your communication, see how you provide this clarity to many others. It may be a team meeting, it may be a recruiting presentation, it may be a meeting with former players, whatever it is be prepared.
When Kevin came to me and said he wanted to highlight what I did in the role, I was honored for two reasons:
He understood what I did and felt the value I provided was necessary to document through video.
This message was going to go out and help those interested and influenced by our program know the impact happening with player development.
Below is a video of me trying to record in my office for our first take but shout out to KBerg for seeing how stiff I was and deciding to go a more comfortable route.
Outcome
Clarity! The messaging provides a path for clear understanding for those asking.
Clarity of what you do, will help create and open many doors with those who now understand what you do and how they can help.
Another outcome of player development messaging is the ability to clearly define helps others in program see how player development will be run where you are. Player development looks different in so many places. This communication will help ALL understand the version they will see.
As a reminder, Friday Photos is additional player development content to dive into the player development programming and initiatives over my career in the role. This content is broken into WHY the programming and initiative happened, HOW we were able to do it, and the OUTCOME from the programming or initiative.
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