Which one is a more vivid picture that you first can recall? A star athlete being confident, concise and loose in front of the camera or the very same guy that gives away nothing, hides behind platitudes and has some issues on how to express himself correctly. Only a few of them are naturals with the camera and with public speaking, like Usain Bolt, but what about the rest of them?
A pro-athlete is a brand. Whether they like it or not, their lives are open to the public. So each and every athlete needs these kind of social skills, otherwise you have no brand, no noteworthy media presence, no nothing except for being really really good at sports. But without being able to handle interviews and media appearances you have no actual carrier that would go beyond your athletic skills.
Fortunately, there are companies that are busy with giving one-on-one private consultations and workshops to pro-athletes on topics ranging from how to behave when a microphone is shoved into your face right after you broke the 100 meters dash record up to how to handle your Facebook or Twitter account correctly. So let us brush through some of the tips given by the most influential ones in the business! Roy Firestone, acclaimed broadcaster and performer, warns you never to drop your guard completely. When interviewed, speak concisely, speak from the heart but never give away too much and especially don’t make any grand announcements, like almost every football player does, claiming to end up in the Hall of Fame then they are out of the game before the end of the season. Other experts offer a whole package of social media training, including social media sites ethics, conscious interview manners and tips even on how and whom to party with.
Media and reporters can be cruel. You can never know when will one of your Tweets or a message left on other people’s voice mail appear in a mainstream article about you even if no reporter came to interview you directly. Holding a press conference or giving a snappy interview right after your game can be just as tricky. You can do it poorly, in a ’let’s get this over with’ type of attitude or you can nail it in a way that will change people’s lives. Because we do have examples for that too: beginning with Lou Gehrig’s 1939 farewell speech – ”The luckiest man on the face of the earth”, through almost every Usain Bolt interview, Michael Irvin’s ”look up, get up and don’t ever give up” speech, or Tim Tebow's promise after a lost game – ”You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. You will never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season. You will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season. God Bless.”
Competitive athletes develop a well-established media presence through carefully building and caring for their brand. Though, one can only push through a certain limit so far: active days are once over and if an athlete is smart enough to bear that in mind at all times then he or she is going to benefit from the advantages given while still in business. But it is never too late to try and learn how to communicate better and have the media be smitten with you for good. If you need some motivation just look this video up and see what the greatest athletes that ever lived can achieve simply by talking - a video about ”Everything you need is already inside you”.
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