If breaking into sports is “who you know” — that’s your opportunity, not a weakness

I was living in Iowa at the time I was introduced to the idea that breaking into sports is about “who you know”. Later on, I heard it’s actually about “who knows you”. Either way — it’s about people and frankly, I didn’t have many in the realm of sport.

But when we hear these comments, we have two options: view it as a weakness or view it as an opportunity.

And, sometimes, reframing a weakness to an opportunity is all we need.

If it’s “who you know” or “who knows you” — and neither are in your favor — do not underestimate the power of being strategic in connecting with people and staying disciplined for 1-year.

• If you’re in school — get involved your athletic department. (If you’re struggling break in — find the thing that no one wants to do — and do it)
• If you’re truly curious and invested in learning from people for the right reasons, use LinkedIn and staff rosters to both find alumni working in sports and people working in departments you’re interested in. (All you need is one response).
• Send emails, ask for time to learn about their role, and even experiment with the times you send them. We are in the internet era, so email formats from Leagues, teams, conferences, colleges, etc. are all out there. It just takes some digging to find them, sometimes.
• Understand that in order to get a “yes” from someone to give you their time, you have to put yourself at risk of getting many “no’s”
• In general, make it known what you’re interested in, what you want to learn, and why you want to learn. You never know who you will run into.

There’s a lot you cannot control when trying to break into sports — and a lot of biases that affect people differently based on upbringing, race, gender, etc. But when it comes to “who you know and who knows you” — you can control whether you perceive that as a weakness or an opportunity.

A lot can change in 1-year.

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