Who represents the Representatives? (Agents)

Hello again fellow sports fans, avid blog readers, and all you other people (who are no less important).

As my journey toward becoming a sports professional continues, I’ve done some research on the sports agent part of the business. Recently I looked into the possibility of an Agent Union or some other organization, where all agents can come together and discuss the profession. I found the National Association ofSports Agents & Athlete Representatives otherwise known as NASAAR.

NASAAR is a new comer to the professional sports world, having only launched last July 2012. They have conferences and forum meetings for their members on numerous subjects, these include: Scouting, finances, sports law, and contracts.

NASAAR membership extends beyond agents. Their members also include contract advisors, financial professionals, marketing experts, performance trainers, sports medicine experts, marketers and many other professionals who can be linked to the sports world.

While this group is not a union by name or nature, the spirit of the group seems to be as such. What I mean by that is this group was founded to help combat the negative view that sports professionals who work with athletes have gotten lately. Over the last few years these people have come under scrutiny for their practices. Names such as cutthroat, others as cheaters, and some as boosters have been thrown around.

NASAAR has numerous goals. One is, collaboration between players associations, schools and others on agent and representation matters. Another is resource for the public to help learn about the industry and find representation. They also help in aspects of law and legal proceedings. Most recently issues they’ve started to look into the industry are, statistics of industry trends and athlete and agent issues.

The last issue is one that I would like to delve into more. The NCAA and the NFL or other Major league sports have been cracking down on agent tampering while athletes are still in college. The NCAA has numerous rules and regulations regarding what an agent can do, when an agent can meet with prospective clients, and how they can work with them. The basic rule is, they are not to have any direct contact with a player while he is in college, before he’s declared. They are also not allowed to buy them presents or give them money. (Sad to say but this one is violated repeatedly, but rarely caught).

NASAAR main aim is to become part of the NCAA and other educational programs process. To allow agents access and gain a voice at the table.

It is about time a group was formed for this. I hope the group can sustain and succeed at its goals. The agents and other professionals do not need a union, but they do need a voice. NASAAR might just be that voice.
When I first started doing sports analysis, I found myself on Twitter following numerous analysts on there. Over the years I've developed a repore' with a few and my network keeps growing. I plan to continue with that approach in my aspirations to become a sports agent. I've added numerous agents to my follow list and plan to continue.

John Wooden - Success

I thought I’d take a second to talk about something other than sports scouting and NFL prospects. I’d like to regal you with a man who has recently inspired me.

John Wooden is ranked by ESPN as the number one coach of all time across all sports. He coached UCLA’s Men’s basketball team to some of the greatest wins in all of Basketball history that are still unmatched today. I found a video of a speech he gave back in February of 2001 on Ted.com.

All I knew about Coach Wooden before I watched this video was that he is known in many circles as “Coach”. By the end of his video I have decided to go find more about him. I suggest you watch the video and you can find the link below.

The video is called The difference between winning and succeeding. In the video he captures you immediately with his self-deprecating humor. He instantly reminded me of the wise and funny older uncle at the dinner table. He discusses why winning is nothing without succeeding. He talks about his own personal inspirations that lead him to becoming a great teacher and coach.

First and mentioned quite often through the video were the lessons his dad taught him as a youngster. He inadvertently used one of the number one rules in marketing to inspire and help his players and students. He used K.I.S.S.  Keep it simple stupid. He didn’t believe in Alumni giving kids material encouragement to help win games or monetary rewards. Rather, he used poetry to inspire, had a simple guidelines and three rules for them to follow.

Guidelines: 1 – School comes first.

                   2 – Basketball comes second.

                   3 – Social activities come third.

He said, “If social activities came before either of the first two, the first two would never happen.” Smart man!

Rule 1 – Never be late and Keep neat and clean.  He followed this rule himself when it came to practice. He always started on time and ended on time. He never kept the late. There are few good jokes at this part of the video I’d rather not ruin in this post. (You’ll just have to watch.)

Rule 2 – No Profanity. It didn’t matter if it was during practice or game. During practice you were sent home, during a game you’d be benched.

Rule 3 – No criticizing your fellow teammates.

With these guidelines, rules, and the addition of poetry (have to watch the video for those great poems) he really inspired many kids. In the end he came up with a pyramid system for success. At the top of the pyramid there are two ideals that he says are the most important, “Faith and Patience.” If you do what you are supposed to do and have faith and patience everything will work out. It will all come together.

There were many other great tidbits in his speech that were truly inspirational but as I’ve mentioned numerous times in this post “You have to watch the video.” 

Click here to hear this inspirational speech