You’re a Retired Professional Athlete… Now What?

You were a professional athlete. You most likely spent your whole life working towards the goal of earning a living by playing sports. Some might say you were born with a ball (or a pair of goggles, or a joust, or running sneakers) in your hand. You spent your youth playing organized sports, missing out on weekends full of video games with your buddies because you had a weekend tournament, instead. Your whole life has been about sacrifice, for the game you love, and the game that eventually loved you back with money and fame. Now you’re retired, and you’re a little scared, confused even. Where do you go from here?

Some athletes choose to retire, move away from the spotlight, hang out with their family for a while, and make up for lost time. Others (not many) have made enough money in their playing career to support themselves and their loved ones for the rest of their lives without doing much of anything, and are content doing so. However, for most athletes, the money will run out, and more importantly, they aren’t happy just ‘doing nothing.’ Those are the athletes I’m speaking to now.

Building an Online Presence Will Help You Stay Relevant

The eyeballs are shifting. People are spending more and more time on the Internet rather than in front of the television, and that trend won’t change. If you want to stay relevant, maintaining a personal site and building an online presence is the best option. Through social media, you can interact with the fans who supported you throughout your playing career, while earning new fans along the way. The content you create is up to you. If you no longer want to talk about or associate yourself completely with your sport, you don’t have to.

A Case Study: Jalen Rose

Let me talk for a moment about a retired athlete that I’ve had the chance to work with and get to know over the past six months. His name is Jalen Rose. In college, he played for the University of Michigan, and was a member of the Fab Five. He went on to play 13 years in the NBA and is now a studio analyst for ESPN/ABC. When Jalen retired, the decision on ‘what to do now’ was easy. He knew his second career was as a member of the media.

As a former pro athlete, he has always been known for his time on the court. When you hear Jalen Rose, you think basketball. His goal was to change that. In 2007, he started Three Tier Entertainment, an LA based management and production company, centered around the entertainment industry. Then, earlier this year, he began to really focus on his online brand. With the help of VaynerMedia, he revamped JalenRose.com, and started producing content on a regular basis. He has a Twitter account with over 40,000 followers, as well as a strong Youtube account, a Ustream channel, and a Facebook Fan Page. And through weekly Mashable posts, he reaches millions of people in a much different demographic than he was used to in his playing days (yeah, yeah, many Mashable readers may be sports-loving geeks, but many are not). Most importantly, he is talking about sports, entertainment, politics, and current events because he is knowledgeable and passionate about more than just basketball, and wants to share his opinions.

Conclusion

Just because your playing days are over does not mean you have to leave the spotlight. In fact, your retirement is a chance to expand your brand, and to connect with the people who showed you support during your career.

Which retired athletes who’ve left the spotlight would you most like to see online? Which retired athletes have done a good job of maintaining their presence through a personal website and/or social media?