5 key steps for breaking into professional sport.

At Cor-Kinetic we often get asked how we are able to be involved with so many elite sports organisations. I was asked this question last week and made me stop for a moment to think about. I then decided to put some points down to help those looking to break into sport and fulfill some of their ambitions.

One of the things that many people want to achieve in their careers as trainers or therapists is working in professional sport or with elite athletes. It brings with it a special kind of kudos and has exciting moments such as competitions and events. In fact being involved is probably the next best thing to competing. The adrenaline rush and shared highs and lows. The team spirit or bond with an athlete. Getting the opportunity to travel to can also be an exciting experience.

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At Cor-Kinetic we have been lucky enough to have had success within the world of professional sport. We have educated a large number of medical and training staff across the premierships of both football and rugby and national teams within these sports. For a full list of teams we have worked with *Click Here*.  Some of my favourite personal moments have been with individuals such as title fights live on sky sports (winning and drawing) and even a single-handed cross Atlantic row!

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I thought that in this blog we would give you our 5 part recipe for success.

1. Get educated

If you want to be involved you have to ask yourself have you got the skill set? If you are not at a required standard you are not going to be on a level playing field with the other people you are competing with for the limited roles available. This is the first and probably the most important step to turning your dreams into a reality. Without a solid knowledge base in a chosen field it is very difficult to put the next stages into action. This is the foundation for everything else to be built on top of. The more you learn also the more you can achieve in whichever role or job you are in. Unlike a job you can never lose knowledge. Investing in yourself always pays off.

Check out our EMS (Elite Movement Specialist) Course. *Click Here* Also our in depth Mentorship program *Click Here*

Both courses are designed to make you a specialist and add the edge needed to stand out from the crowd.

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2. Fulfill a need. Become a specialist.

Specialism and expertise are highly sought after commodities. Just saying you are better than the rest or get results is not enough. If you had 20 people all of the same standard would you pick the person who brought a different skill set and added something extra? A good team is about having different strengths. How many people have a trainer, S & C or physio background? Well lots, so the question you can ask yourself is what can you add to your existing skill sets to make you different, needed and get noticed? Our specialism is in the functional movement of the body and how this can be used for pain, assessment, rehabilitation and performance. This has led to us being contacted by many clubs looking to add knowledge of this specialty to their skill sets or hire us on a consultancy basis to bring knowledge as and when needed. To be invited into some of the country's top training facilities is a great experience even if it can be a little daunting with such expertise around.

3. Get connected

Not always what you know but who you know? Well it is really the mixture of both. How are people going to find out about you? Online tools such as Linkedin are perfect. You can target the right people in the right places quickly and efficiently. Twitter and Facebook tend to be a little more general. Facebook seems mainly about your friends and funny photos. Twitter can also be a good resource for building a really targeted connection base if you put in the time and effort to build it.

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4. Have something to say

So once you have the audience what are you going to say to them? Just telling people how good you are does not cut the mustard at the top-level of sport where evidence based practice is often king. This kind of goes full circle back to the first two points. With the right education and specialism then you can say and do things that people will sit up and take notice of and they may feel that they need at their club or as part of a training team for an individual athlete. You can do this in the form of articles, blogs, video, tweets, lectures, workshops and presentations. With the right subjects that are pertinent to the sports environment there is no better way to get people's attention. Sending a CV into a club or athlete may mean it just ends up in a pile with all the others. Are people able to Google you and get some hits? Having a presence on the internet is so important in today's technologically driven world. It allows people to know you before they get to know you! It may even  lead to them to coming to you not the other way around. At Cor-Kinetic we have never once contacted a club. All our work has come through information we have put out there and then backed up by some minor advertising. If someone sees and advert it can then lead to an internet hit and then interaction with your content. That's why your contact list is so important because it allows you to target your advertising. The last two premiership football champions have both used our educational services with members of their first team medical staff. Most of this was word of mouth. Do the right things and people will talk about it. The world of sport is pretty tight-knit. The biggest complement is when people say that they talked to someone else about you and decided it was also for them. That is the mark of a good job. This is also true of client or patient referrals.

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5. Persevere

Rome wasn't built in a day. It takes time to build up an education, contact list and library of information. You will not get a return straight away on the hard work you put in. People need to see more than just one piece of information to have trust in what you have to say is for them. Your information needs to regular, consistent, well thought out and get to the right people. There will always be people who knock what you have to say and will comment on your content. This is actually healthy and helps to build your understanding of a subject through explaining your point of view and also expanding your knowledge base through interaction with other people's knowledge base.

So good luck!!

WWW.COR-KINETIC.COM

Check out our EMS (Elite Movement Specialist) Course. *Click Here* Also our in depth Mentorship program *Click Here*