What opportunities are you creating for your athletes beyond their sport?

Only a small percentage of athletes will go on to compete professionally. That means coaches, athletic administrators, and player development professionals have a responsibility to help athletes prepare for opportunities that extend beyond competition.

In this episode, Edward Jones II continues breaking down the BEYOND Player Development Framework with the "O," which stands for Opportunities.

Drawing from his experiences at the University of Houston, the University of Kansas, Baylor University, and Beyond The Field, Edward shares practical ways programs can connect athletes with careers, mentors, alumni, entrepreneurs, internships, job-shadowing experiences, and professional networks.

This episode focuses on four important questions:

• What opportunities already exist within your program or institution?

• What opportunities can you intentionally create for your athletes?

• What opportunities are your athletes asking for or interested in?

• How are you connecting athletes to careers, mentors, and networks?

Edward shares several real examples of creating opportunities, including reaching out to university alumni networks, using LinkedIn to connect an athlete with an experienced corporate HR professional, developing professional LinkedIn headshots for players, attending career fairs on behalf of athletes, and connecting a student-athlete interested in entrepreneurship with successful business owners.

One of the biggest lessons is simple:

You do not always need to create something new.

Sometimes the career fair already exists.

The alumni network already exists.

The mentor already exists.

The business community already exists.

The opportunity already exists.

Your job is to build the bridge between the athlete and the opportunity.

Programs should also listen to what athletes are actually asking for. Instead of deciding every opportunity for them, learn about their interests and use your network to help them explore those interests.

The logo on your chest can open doors.

Your alumni can open doors.

LinkedIn can open doors.

Your community can open doors.

Your job in player development is to intentionally help athletes walk through them.

This episode is part of the BEYOND Player Development Framework:

B: Belonging

E: Education

Y: Your Purpose

O: Opportunities

N: Navigation

D: Development Systems

To learn more about the BEYOND Player Development Framework or bring Edward Jones II in to work with your program, complete the BEYOND Framework Assessment using the link in the episode notes.

Developing People. Elevating Programs.

Get YOUR SIGNED copy of the Beyond The Field Player Development Guide: https://forms.gle/AJozwnjEw4UHNaH29

Player Development Newsletter: https://substack.com/@btfprogram

Complete the BEYOND Framework Assessment https://forms.gle/CC6DoBQGF8UkJj5h6

Who are you beyond your sport?

For many athletes, that can be a difficult question to answer.

From an early age, athletes can build their identity around their sport, their performance, and the dream of reaching the next level. But an athletic career represents only a small portion of a person's life.

Player development should help athletes discover who they are beyond the game.

In this episode, Edward Jones II continues breaking down the BEYOND Player Development Framework by exploring the "Y," which stands for Your Purpose.

Drawing from his experience in college football and player development, Edward shares practical questions, personal experiences, and strategies programs can use to help athletes develop a stronger sense of purpose.

This episode explores four important questions:

• How are you helping athletes define who they are beyond their sport?

• How are you creating environments where athletes feel safe to be open and honest?

• How are athletes identifying and defining their core values?

• How are you helping athletes connect their daily actions to a larger purpose?

Edward also shares the story of an athlete who came into his office with something deeply personal to share. His biggest concern was not football, playing time, or his future career.

He wanted to become a great father.

That conversation reinforced an important lesson about purpose. Purpose is not always about a career. Sometimes it is about the person someone wants to become and the impact they want to make on the people around them.

The episode also explores how identifying core values can provide stability when circumstances change. Edward shares his own core values of care, communication, and empowerment and explains why values can continue guiding you even when your job, location, career, or circumstances change.

Finally, purpose has to connect to action.

Want to become a starter? What are you doing today?

Want to become a great father? What are you doing today?

Want to become an author? Are you writing?

Want a career in finance? Are you building relationships?

Purpose becomes powerful when daily actions begin aligning with the person you want to become.

If you work with athletes, do not only prepare them to perform.

Help them discover who they are.

Help them define what matters.

Help them find their purpose beyond their sport.

This episode is part of the BEYOND Player Development Framework:

B: Belonging

E: Education

Y: Your Purpose

O: Opportunities

N: Navigation

D: Development Systems

To learn more about the BEYOND Player Development Framework or bring Edward Jones II in to work with your program, complete the BEYOND Framework Assessment using the link in the episode notes.

Developing People. Elevating Programs.

Get YOUR SIGNED copy of the Beyond The Field Player Development Guide: https://forms.gle/AJozwnjEw4UHNaH29

Player Development Newsletter: https://substack.com/@btfprogram

Complete the BEYOND Framework Assessment https://forms.gle/CC6DoBQGF8UkJj5h6

What do you actually want athletes to learn while they are in your program?

That question sounds simple, but too many programs rely on random programming, passive learning, or the hope that athletes will simply "pick up" leadership, accountability, communication, and maturity along the way.

In this episode, Edward Jones II begins the Education portion of the BEYOND Player Development Framework.

Drawing from his experience at the University of Houston, the University of Kansas, Baylor University, and Beyond The Field, Edward explains why education in player development must go beyond the classroom.

Athletes are already receiving academic instruction through their schools and universities. The responsibility of player development is to identify the additional knowledge, skills, habits, and values athletes need to succeed during and after their time in the program.

This episode focuses on three important reflection questions:

• What do you want athletes to learn during their time in your program?

• Where is your current programming intentional, and where is it random?

• How are you aligning your programming with what coaches want for their athletes?

Edward also explains why the same programming will not work for every team, every year, or every coaching staff. Rosters change. Leadership changes. Needs change.

That means effective player development requires regular evaluation and intentional planning.

Random programming can sometimes produce success.

Intentional programming creates impact.

Whether you are a player development professional, coach, athletic director, administrator, or someone responsible for developing athletes, this episode challenges you to stop assuming development will simply happen.

Decide what you want athletes to learn.

Structure it.

Teach it.

Reevaluate it.

And make sure your educational efforts align with the vision of the program.

This episode begins the Education portion of the BEYOND Player Development Framework:

B: Belonging

E: Education

Y: Your Purpose

O: Opportunities

N: Navigation

D: Development Systems

To learn more about the BEYOND Player Development Framework or bring Edward Jones II in to work with your program, complete the BEYOND Framework Assessment using the link in the episode notes.

Developing People. Elevating Programs.

Get YOUR SIGNED copy of the Beyond The Field Player Development Guide: https://forms.gle/AJozwnjEw4UHNaH29

Player Development Newsletter: https://substack.com/@btfprogram

Complete the BEYOND Framework Assessment https://forms.gle/CC6DoBQGF8UkJj5h6