The phone calls I get this time of year are hilarious. “My team mates are saying this team and that team is interested in them.” “So and so is talking to this team about being drafted, and to another team about being tendered.” “I was told that so and so did this and that.”
It’s time to pull your heads out of your asses and learn to stop listening to other players talk. Most of them are lying. Talkers talk and doer’s do. If you’re talking then you are not working, and if you are not working, you are not going anywhere other than to return to where you have already been.
It’s time to start acting like a professional if you ever want to be a professional. It is time to start acting like an NCAA athlete if you ever want to be one.
A camp invite in an email is not “interest” it is a camp invite and nothing more. An open camp and pre draft camp invite is not “interest”, it is only one teams interest in getting your money. Really. When the hell are you going to figure out what real interest is?
Real interest is an invitation directly to main camp. Real interest is being drafted. Real interest is being tendered. Real interest is signing a contract. That’s it. There are only four categories of “real interest”, no others exist.
Players who have “real interest” don’t talk about it. They simply go about their business and make things happen silently. Players with an upward trajectory do not expose their plans to everybody, they do not talk.
So when you are sitting in the Tier 3 dressing room listening to all the absolute BS talk about “interest”, take note of who is talking, and I guarantee you that 99% of them will be returning to that same stall next season or another Tier 3 team next season after, “the coaches screwed me”.
It is time to grow up and take a mature outlook on your playing career. An honest evaluation. It is time to make a plan, and work that plan in silence.
Do you think that Burger King talks to McDonalds before they launch some new product that will give them a competitive edge? No. So why the hell would you keep telling everyone what you are doing? If you have something coming together, just be quiet. The accomplishment when this thing happens will speak louder than you can talk.
Actions, not words. Deeds, not talk.
Plan to work, and work the plan. Develop a real advancement plan. Don’t try to rush or game the system because it wont work.
Strategic planning for your advancement is done privately and in silence. You work the plan you create, and once you reach that success, you develop a new plan for the next level. Every new level requires a new you.
When you are ready to get real, and ready to actually achieve results for yourself, my email is below.
Joseph Kolodziej – Adviser
