The Real Athlete Blog

Social Media Education: Important at All Levels of Athletics

by Justin Sievert 02-04-2012 04:04 PM Public Relations | Social Media | Trusted Athlete Educator | Recruiting

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Michigan. Notre Dame. Rutgers. Auburn. Virginia Tech. At one time, these highly regarded collegiate institutions were all offering a football scholarship to New Jersey high school All-American cornerback Yuri Wright. However, Wright's collegiate options virtually evaporated after he was expelled from his high school, Don Bosco Prep, on Jan. 19. The reason for Wright's expulsion—comments made on his Twitter account.

Social media has become such an institution in American culture that high-profile athletes, even at the high school level, are "followed," "friended," or "added" by sports fans from all over the world. As a result, athletes, at an increasingly young age, need to be counseled and educated on what is appropriate and inappropriate for sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Ultimately, Wright was extremely lucky that Colorado coach Jon Embree decided to include him in his recruiting class, saying that Wright is remorseful over the racially charged and sexually graphic postings. Wright may have learned his lesson and promises his days with social media are over.

To avoid finding yourself in a predicament like Wright, here are five best practices high-profile athletes at all levels should consider when using social media:

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Derrick Rose Is Still Adding MVP Social Status to His Game

by Dr. Timothy Thompson 02-04-2012 02:43 PM Trusted Athlete Educator | Human Relations | Sports Psychology

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Derrick Rose appears to be a rare breed of superstar athlete who prefers to play his sport rather than allowing it to play him. At a time when even marginal players are inundated by media and other public appearances while they must watch every step they make in those appearances and in social media for the sake of protecting their brands, there’s certainly a refreshing side to the fact that the player known as “Pooh” to his family is uncomfortable about being viewed as a celebrity in his old neighborhood.

In a December 30, 2011 Yahoo! Sports article written by Marc J. Spears, the author explained, “Rose has accepted his fame, and he’s worked the past two seasons to show more of his personality to the public. But . . . the only time he seems comfortable opening up is around his family and long-time friends.” What Spears was referring to was Rose’s remarks about his emotional reaction to being treated differently than when he wasn’t a Chicago Bulls superstar. Rose explained, “The worst part is the attention. I hate attention like that.”

Rose went further in describing his feelings about the dramatic changes in the way basketball fans started treating him once he became an NBA star, saying, “I can’t even go outside to eat at places without having a hood on or walking with my head down. I’m not used to that. It’s weird, but hopefully it’s something I can get through.”

The refreshing part of all this is that Rose is demonstrating a willingness to keep from letting fame and fortune turn him into an arrogant celebrity snob. And if he can successfully complete his adjustments to the social requirements of being a celebrity athlete, he’ll have accomplished something that many of his colleagues could not.

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Athlete Weekly Rundown: Browns TE Ben Watson's recruiting advice, Jack Bechta's inside glimpse of the player-agent interviews & NFL DT Chris Hoke retires for health & family

by Al-Hassan Sheriff 02-02-2012 11:58 PM Athlete Weekly Rundown

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Athlete Development
- Longevity is a very important goal for today’s athlete, and this article provides a few tips from several NFL players 34 or older. [NFL’s Fountain of Youth]
- For any baseball players aspiring to make it to the pros, ESPN offers an article with some details of the advantages of playing college ball over being drafted immediately after high school. [The Benefits of Choosing College Over Pros]
- Each year, many overlooked high school football players head to Nike Football SPARQ Combines around the U.S. hoping to improve their regional and national buzz. For Miami Class of 2012 DE Dwayne Hoilett, the experience was a major benefit. “Without those camps, I would be a lot more underrated than I am,” Hoilett says. “I’d be good for my area, but I wouldn’t have the state or national recognition. I wouldn’t have had as many offers.” [Players Use Camps to Earn Scholarships]
- In an ESPN article, several NFL pros were asked to reflect on their senior seasons in high school. Cleveland Browns TE Ben Watson’s advice about the recruiting process stood out. “I think the greatest advice would be to be really proactive in the process. It's hard to speak up and ask the tough questions that you want answered when a smooth coach is recruiting you or some older guys on the team are showing you around, but it's really about you and how you feel about the school and the program. Have a firm set of priorities and don't waver from them just because you are impressed by a visit or a call. Never forget that it's about you and your decision in this important stage of life.” [Senior Season: Insights From Proven Pros]
Business
- If you and your family had to meet with several agents to determine who is going to represent you, how would you choose? What questions would you ask? If you have never thought about it or are stuck, prominent NFL agent Jack Bechta offers some topics to consider when interviewing a player agent. [Inside the Player-Agent Interviews]
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The National Letter of Intent Program: Important Considerations for Prospective Student-Athletes

by Justin Sievert 02-02-2012 01:45 AM Amateurism | Recruiting

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Yesterday college football fans were treated to what has become a national holiday, Signing Day. February 1st marked the first day that a high school senior football student-athlete could sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to play collegiate football at an NCAA member institution. The NLI program, which is managed by the NCAA Eligibility Center and governed by the Collegiate Commissioners Association, does not just include football but includes all NCAA sponsored scholarship sports. NLI membership includes 620 NCAA Division I and II member institutions. Ivy League, service academies, NCAA Division III, NAIA, prepatory and junior colleges are not part of the NLI program. The impact of signing an NLI is the prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the designated college or university for one academic year and the selected institution agrees to provide athletics financial aid to the student-athlete, provided he/she is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules.

While the purported goal of the NLI program was to benefit both member institutions and prospective student-athletes, there are many considerations prospective student-athletes need to take into account before signing a letter of intent with any NCAA member institution. These considerations include:

1.     Voluntariness: While signing the NLI is voluntary, virtually all NLI member institutions strongly encourage prospective student-athletes to sign. Prospective student-athletes need to be aware of the obligations that come with signing an NLI and the ramifications that may come with not signing an NLI.

2.     Penalties: The basic penalty for not fulfilling the NLI is to serve one year in residence (full-time) at the next NLI member institution and lose one season of competition in all sports (not just the sport the NLI was signed in).

3.     Coaching Changes: A prospective student-athlete is signing an NLI with an institution. A coach leaving the institution in which the prospective student-athlete signed the NLI does not release the prospective student-athlete of the NLI's obligations. Further reading on coaching changes and both prospective and current student-athletes can be found here.

4.     NLI Declared Null and Void: An NLI signed by the prospective student-athlete does not mean it will necessarily become binding on the institution. An NLI can be declared null and void for the following reasons: (1) the prospective student-athlete was denied admission to the institution; (2) the prospective student-athlete does not meet NCAA, institutional or conference eligibility requirements; (3) the prospective student-athlete does not enroll at the institution for one year after he or she signed the NLI and the scholarship is no longer available; (4) the prospective student-athlete serves in the military or on a church mission following the signing of the NLI; and (5) the sport in which the prospective student-athlete signed on to play at the institution is discontinued.

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Something to Think About, Edition #4: 10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Financial Planner

by Scott Kaminsky 02-01-2012 11:56 PM Finance

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Happy New Year everybody! To start the 2012 Year off properly, I thought it might be helpful to offer some thoughts about what questions you should be asking when choosing a Financial Planner.

This may be one of the most important decisions you make with your finances and asking the right questions could be the difference between using a Financial Planner that adds value versus using a Financial Planner that takes advantage of you.

Q1. WHAT EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE?

            Find out how long the planner has been in practice and the number and types of companies with which she has been associated. Ask the planner to briefly describe her work experience and how it relates to her current practice. Choose a financial planner who has experience counseling individuals on their financial needs.

Q2. WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS?

            The term “financial planner” is used by many financial professionals. Ask the planner what qualifies him to offer financial planning advice and whether he is recognized as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional or CFP® practitioner, a Certified Public Accountant/Personal Financial Specialist (CPA/PFS), or a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC). Look for a planner who has proven experience in financial planning topics such as insurance, tax planning, investments, estate planning or retirement planning. Determine what steps the planner takes to stay current with changes and developments in the financial planning field. If the planner holds a financial planning designation or certification, check on his background with the CFP Board or other relevant professional organizations.

Q3. WHAT SERVICES DO YOU OFFER?

            The services a financial planner offers depend on a number of factors including credentials, licenses, and areas of expertise. Generally, financial planners cannot sell insurance or securities products such as mutual funds or stocks without the proper licenses, or give investment advice unless registered with state or Federal authorities. Some planners offer financial planning advice on a range of topics but do not sell financial products. Others may provide advice only in specific areas such as estate planning or on tax matters.

Q4. WHAT IS YOUR APPROACH TO FINANCIAL PLANNING?

            Ask the financial planner about the type of clients and financial situations she typically likes to work with. Some planners prefer to develop one plan by bringing together all of your financial goals. Others provide advice on specific areas, as needed. Make sure the planner’s viewpoint on investing is not too cautious or overly aggressive for you. Some planners require you to have a certain net worth before offering services. Find out if the planner will carry out the financial recommendations developed for you or refer you to others who will do so.

Q5. WILL YOU BE THE ONLY PERSON WORKING WITH ME?

            The financial planner may work with you himself or have others in the office assist him. You may want to meet everyone who will be working with you. If the planner works with professionals outside his own practice (such as attorneys, insurance agents or tax specialists) to develop or carry out financial planning recommendations, get a list of their names to check on their backgrounds.

Q6. HOW WILL I PAY FOR YOUR SERVICES?

            As part of your financial planning agreement, the financial planner should clearly tell you in writing how she will be paid for the services to be provided.

Planners can be paid in several ways:
- A salary paid by the company for which the planner works. The planner’s employer receives payment from you or others, either in fees or commissions, in order to pay the planner's salary.
- Fees based on an hourly rate, a flat rate, or on a percentage of your assets and/or income.
- Commissions paid by a third party from the products sold to you to carry out the financial planning recommendations. Commissions are usually a percentage of the amount you invest in a product.
- A combination of fees and commissions whereby fees are charged for the amount of work done to develop financial planning recommendations and commissions are received from any products sold. In addition, some planners may offset some portion of the fees you pay if they receive commissions for carrying out their recommendations.
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What the Giants-Packers Playoff Game Can Teach You About Any Sport

by Steven Yellin 01-27-2012 12:05 AM Training | Coaching

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Here is the scenario: the Packers were big favorites going into the playoffs. They were the top seed in the NFC Division. They had lost only one game all season. They were the defending Super Bowl champions and they were playing at Lambeau Field, their home field. Everything was looking good for them. Unfortunately, the game did not turn out as expected.

An ESPN blog by Kevin Seifert tells the story:

But here, as they say, is the stone-cold truth: One of the most explosive and efficient offenses in NFL history -- the one that almost single-handedly was responsible for a 15-1 regular-season record -- stumbled at the starting line and never regained its footing. Credit goes to the Giants' defense for scheming to take away the deep pass, but independent of that, I think we can agree it's been a while since we've seen the Packers' offense play so poorly. ESPN Stats & Information had it with six drops, tied for the most by any NFL team in a game this season. The Packers committed a season-high four turnovers, including a fumble by Rodgers as he was trying to hit a wide-open Jennings in the third quarter. They had only two plays go for more than 20 yards, a 29-yard run by running back James Starks and a 21-yard pass to receiver Randall Cobb once the game was out of hand.
"This year," receiver Jordy Nelson said, "we've made the easy plays into big plays. And we didn't make the easy plays today. That's what hurts you. Every once in a while, you'll get a big shot, but if you can't make the easy plays, you aren't going to make any plays."

I couldn't have put it better if I tried. Why that happened, however, will be a mental mystery that will haunt the Packers all offseason.

Let's decipher that mental mystery right now.

Actually, it is not a mental mystery as much as it is a collective neurophysiological breakdown. In order to produce motion in the body, any motion, whether it is swinging a golf club or throwing a football, the signal about the motion has to go directly to the motor system and not be intercepted by the pre-frontal cortex. This ability of signals to go directly to the motor system has a crucial component attached to it. That component is the element of time.

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A Pro Athlete's Responsibility to Give Back from a Player's Perspective

by Matthew Allinson 01-16-2012 04:08 PM Athlete Interviews | Philanthropy | Human Relations

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We caught up with several Baltimore Ravens players at Anquan Boldin’s Inaugural Fundraiser Dinner at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, and had the opportunity to ask them about their responsibility to give back to the community as pro athletes as well as their advice for the younger players on how they can get involved with charity work and a find a cause that's meaningful to them. We spoke to Rice Rice, Michael Oher, Matt Birk, Joe Flacco, and Ed Reed. We also recently published Q&A’s with Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, who provided invaluable insight about philanthropy and are role models off the field.

Q: What does it mean to you to be a professional athlete in terms of leveraging your celebrity to give back to the community?

Ray Rice: I think being a professional athlete is a big part of your job, but if you’re just being a football player you’re not filling a total fulfillment. Giving back to the community is one of them things you can’t take for granted because they're people that look up to you on and off the field. And being a community ambassador is something that, especially [with] all the things that I’ve been through in my life, it’s almost like my calling and duty to be part of the community.

Q: What advice would you lend to aspiring athletes coming up in the ranks in terms of how they can give back to the community to prepare themselves to be in a position like you?

Ray Rice: I think like you said, they got to position themselves. A lot of people think they have to donate money. But really if you donate your time to the community first, the money will follow because then people see you doing a good job and then they’ll want to help you. So, I just think follow your heart and desire, and just go out there and donate your time before you try to donate any money.

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Haloti Ngata Q&A

by Matthew Allinson 01-16-2012 01:33 AM Athlete Interviews | Philanthropy | Athlete Career Development | Human Relations

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Haloti Ngata, 27, is widely considered one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL. The six-year veteran of the Baltimore Ravens earned his third consecutive trip to the Pro Bowl this season after recording 64 tackles, a career high, and adding 5 sacks. At 6-foot-4, 330-pounds, the versatile and freakishly athletic one-man wrecking crew is one of the anchors of the Ravens’ long vaunted 3-4 hybrid defense. Ngata and his Ravens will head to Foxborough next weekend to face Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

Ngata spoke to Access Athletes at Anquan Boldin’s Inaugural Fundraiser Dinner about his approach to being a pro athlete off the field.

Q: Start off by telling me what it means to you to be a pro athlete and how you leverage your celebrity to give back to the community.

Ngata: It’s huge for me. I’ve always wanted to be an NFL football player. I’ve always dreamed it. I always have looked up to guys like I could kind of be like, guys like Reggie White. That kind of person where he was a great football player, but then off the field he was a great man, a great father, and a great god-fearing man. So that’s the person I looked up to and hopefully I can be that same kind of person. So now that I’m here at Anquan’s charity dinner and doing things like this, hopefully the guys that are coming up seeing us doing these things understand that yeah you’re getting paid a lot and you got a lot of blessings and talent from God, but you definitely have to give back to your community to whatever things you want to do. It doesn’t have to be what somebody else wants; it’s whatever you want to have happen. So it’s great that Anquan can do some things like this and that all of us teammates that are here can be here to support him and help give back—and then we know Anquan would do the same thing for us.

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Anquan Boldin Q&A: An exemplary role model off the field

by Matthew Allinson 01-11-2012 01:44 AM Athlete Interviews | Philanthropy | Human Relations

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With a tough matchup against the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round of the AFC Playoffs at M&T Bank Stadium this Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens are eager to have their star wide receiver Anquan Boldin return to the lineup. Boldin, the team’s leading wide receiver with 887 yards on 57 catches, missed the final two regular-season games after he had surgery on Dec. 22 to repair a partial tear in his meniscus.

Despite being sidelined while his team secured its third AFC North Division crown in franchise history and clinched a #2 seed and a first-round bye in the playoffs, Boldin remained active with his off-the-field charitable work through his foundation.

The Anquan Boldin Foundation (Q81 Foundation), which was founded in 2004 during Boldin’s second year in the league and is dedicated to expanding the educational and life opportunities of underprivileged children, participated in several events and initiatives over the winter holidays.

Most recently, the Q81 Foundation hosted its 4^th annual holiday shopping spree during Christmas week in which 200 kids in Baltimore and South Florida received $100 gift cards and a chance to shop with Boldin and his Q81 team at Wal-Mart. There was also a donation of toys in Phoenix, the city where Boldin began his NFL career.

Boldin was equally as busy spreading the holiday cheer in November. The Q81 Foundation hosted the All-Star Thanksgiving Feast at the Sam’s Club in Lantana, Florida in partnership with Abram Elam (Cowboys), Brandon Flowers (Chiefs), WEDR 99 Jamz, and the Produce Connection. In an international initiative, he teamed up with his former Arizona Cardinals teammate Larry Fitzgerald in a public service announcement calling on football fans and others to support efforts to raise awareness about the ongoing drought in East Africa and bring critically needed food and water to famine-stricken people in the region. More than 13 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya have been affected by the disaster. Lastly, the Q81 Foundation’s Inaugural Fundraiser Dinner was held in Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium, a great cause which I had the privilege of attending along with around 200 other guests and several of Boldin’s teammates.

We caught up with the 3-time Pro Bowler and the 2010 Ravens’ Walter Payton Man of the Year recipient to talk about philanthropy and get his advice for aspiring pro athletes interested in giving back to the community.

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Interview with a Sports Professional: Robert Andrews, Founder & Director of The Institute of Sports Psychology

by Michelle Hill 01-05-2012 12:00 AM Interview with a Sports Professional | Injury & Rehabilitation | Sports Psychology

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Athletes who have been “bred” from youth to excel in their sport are laser-focused on that sport. They eat, drink, and breathe their sport of choice and often their entire life focuses only on their sports career. But, what happens when the unspeakable happens? One tackle, one wrong fall, one practice session where things go wrong. How will that athlete respond? What are the mental blocks that must be overcome in order for the athlete to come back 100% from injury or to develop a post-sport Plan B?

I recently had the privilege of speaking with Robert Andrews, Founder & Director of The Institute of Sports Psychology in Houston, Texas. His areas of expertise, primary areas of focus, and passion are working with athletes to help them realize their peak potential as an athlete, helping injured athletes overcome the emotional, mental, and spiritual effects of their sports-related injury, and teaching coaches how to coach at their best when things are at their worst.

Robert played on a Texas State Championship football team and as an athlete suffered his own serious sports-related injuries in high school and college. As a psychotherapist, he received extensive training in performance enhancement and trauma resolution. He began to realize the extensive impact of sports injuries on performance and how these injuries hold athletes back not only in sports, but also in life. The Institute of Sports Psychology is the culmination of his dream to dramatically impact the way performance and recovery is addressed and treated in athletes.

Q: At what stage of injury do clients come to you for help?

Andrews: I usually see athletes after they have been cleared to play as “100%” but are still struggling with fears of re-injury, apprehension and, in the worst cases, depression and anxiety. If I can see them before they have surgery and during the recovery process, the athlete has a much more positive and empowering experience on the road back. They return to play confidently and ready to go. They are truly 100%.

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