Thank You! The Player Development Conference was a SUCCESS!
“Everything from the panels to the networking and the words of encouragement were much needed as I start my career in the field. It helped me grow and think about takeaways that I can use to provide value.” – Attendee
The Player Development Conference HAPPENED.
Thank you to all of you who attended, all of you who were panelists, all who helped make this conference happen in some way, all who have post their takeaways, all who have retweeted and liked conference social media posts, all who have spread the word of player development and all who personally sent me messages encouraging me during this process.
I CAN NOT THANK Y’ALL ENOUGH.
What Led to The Player Development Conference?
There are multiple factors, but the first time I saw this could be a possibility was in 2019 when I attended the AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) and one time I was with Tory Teykl, and she invited me to the DFO (Director of Football Operations) meetings that were happening at the bottom level of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio. I did not know what I was getting into, but I was in the transition of being let go with the entire football staff at University of Houston (after a winning season, but that is a story for another day). I went down to connect with DFOs who may be looking for someone in player development but was amazed at the experience I was having. They were bringing up issues, topics, concerns, and other items and were going around the room helping each other. Some of the times they would have a panel or a speaker to discuss the topic before the questions. I remember writing in my notes this is brilliant and would be great for player development.
When I landed at the University of Kansas and we began talking about going to AFCA, I reached out to people I knew at AFCA to let them know this would be a great opportunity for those in the player development space. Although we could not get the room, we were given a panel time on the last day of the 2020 AFCA Convention (you gotta start somewhere). Although this session was lightly attended, there were very impactful moments of player development and understanding communicated by Mikado Hinson, Kevin Washington, and Roosevelt Boone. As I moderated the panel it was great to see people coming in to see this panel that was still going strong at this time of the convention. One of the staff members who worked for the AFCA attended the panel and said he believed this discussion about player development should be part of the head coaches’ meetings and graduate assistant forum of the convention. I left feeling we are getting closer to getting the message out about this influential position.
Then COVID happened.
Roosevelt Boone suggested I create player development meetings connecting everyone in college football during COVID. I went the grassroots way and grabbed emails from every athletic staff directory which listed someone in the player development field. The first meeting was very informative and great for all attending as we hashed out what COVID would look like for our programs as we all had just begun shutdowns. We kept the meetings going, meeting every two months. These were great for all of us to grow and to get to know each other as well. These meetings happened for about a year and a half. One thing I would always think after these meetings was those moments were incredible and what would happen if we could have our own conference where we could meet on various topics. AS I transitioned out of athletics, our meetings became slim to nonexistent. Then one day I was talking to Ashley Goodman, and she spoke to me about creating a conference of some type of way for us to learn. The conversation that made it a reality was when I had a conversation with Mike Hall, and he said I was talking to Ashley and others and a player development conference would be great. This was the last sign I needed and the next week I got with my interns and let them know we were going to make this a reality.
The Path to The Player Development Conference
On October 3, 2022, I let the interns of Beyond the Field, Ali Jawad, and Lauren King, know we were going to make it a reality. This was a great first step, but I did not know where to go from there. Shoutout to Ali and Lauren for continually encouraging me to provide this value for others. There were times before making the public announcement I wanted to back pedal and say maybe we are et up to make this happen. Imposter syndrome tried to give its opinion about would people come to something created by someone who was not developing players or a program at the time. Then we had a meeting where I remembered how I felt in the player development role when I first began in 2016 and I was sitting in my office thinking to myself what in the world am I supposed to do in this role. So, we were full steam ahead.
December 13,2022, I publicly posted we would be holding The Player Development Conference. It was no turning back now. Ha! I was blown away by the support of those who were interested in this event. The funny part to me was about five people on my panelists list commented and I was like LET’S GO! The best message I got after that post was the one, I got from Evin Norman, Next Level Branding, shortly after the post. She reached out and said she wanted to be the official sponsor of the conference and provide the event planning and event management for the conference. Y’all without Evin I do not know how we would have made it happen. I was so worried about topics and possible panelists that I forgot about all the other important logistical needs which make an event like this function.
Now that Evin was on board, it was time to pick dates for the player development conference. I specifically wanted to pick dates which fit the player development professional’s opportunity to have space in their calendar. The first thought was having it after signing day in February, but I felt this would be too close of a turn around from the announcement date. I thought to myself, when did I have time to get my own professional development in the role and after answering the question, I knew it had to be in May. May was great for me when I was in the role because it was when the semester ended and when players would have about three weeks to themselves. This was generally when I would look over the spring programming, development and plan for the upcoming summer and fall. In picking dates, I also considered not double packing those who I knew would attend conferences like the Black Student Athlete Summit, so May 19-20 was the perfect date. We decided as a team to go with a Friday night and Saturday morning to afternoon conference packed with information. We had the structure in place, and it was now time to get the learning content for the conference straight.
Panels and Panelists
In picking panels and panelists, I wanted to be very strategic. There were many topics we could have discussed in the conference. Just like panel topics there were a plethora of panelists who could have brought immense knowledge for the topic. Going back to the framework I have used in founding a leading Beyond the Field is the experience I had in 2016 walking into the role not knowing anything and having to learn everything. With that framework, we began creating panel topics. One of the biggest questions player development professionals get consistently is how you get into player development so instead of question, I thought to myself let create a panel about the first year in player development. Another question I receive is what does professional player development look like so we created that panel as well. From there I wanted to create other panels that would be beneficial for someone in the role. From NIL to career development to emergency planning the goal was to create a growth opportunity for those in the role and those looking to get in the role.
When it came to selecting panelists, I kept true to one of the biggest components of player development and that is relationships. Most of my early asks were from professionals I have real relationships with people I text and can call. These were incredible people in my life I admire as a person first and as a rock star professional second. A lot of these panelists have supported me and been there for me during my transition out of player development so this was my chance to highlight them. Nine of the 29 panelists were guests for Season Two of The Player Development Pod (shameless plug to check out their episodes). Even though I have solidified relationships with these individuals I was still a little shy to ask them. But when I called them, they all were down to help. There were a few professionals who had previous engagements who wanted to be there as well. This blew me out of the water, it just meant so much to me to have the support of those who do the work at a HIGH level.
As we got closer to the conference, I had to step out of my comfort zone to ask a few people who I do not have these deep connections with to be on the panels and like those I knew they either accepted or pointed me to someone who could help in the role of a panelists.
When we had our completed lists of panels and panelists, I knew this conference would help so many people, but little did I know the impact it would have.
The Player Development Conference – Day One and Day Two
Friday, May 19, 2023, was GAMEDAY! The BIG DAY was here. I was an emotional wreck the morning of the conference, just thinking about the faithfulness of God, the support of my people and ALL the things which lead up to this moment. It all hit me like a sack of bricks. When I finally came to a place where I could function, I began getting ready for my opening piece of the conference. This was a lot for me, I was so nervous and if you ask my team, I kept stalling on getting together what I wanted to speak about. Then 4:45PM CST time came on and it was go time the ring light was on, the edge up was crisp, and the gray blazer created an exterior cover for my BTF shirt.
The first panel began, and it was on from there. The panelists crushed it as I knew they would, but they crushed it on another level I was not prepared for. The networking night went on until 1AM EST, shoutout to Alexander Martin for being a man of the people. I had to shut it down or he would’ve stayed on to the next panel. I remember when I ended the Zoom on Day One and the feeling of awe of what just happened overcame me. The panelists, the engagement, the elite chat, and the networking all came together to create an experience I knew would continue Day Two.
Day two began and the panelists came in strong like they heard about how Day One was and they did not drop the baton in this relay race, they took it and increased the performance. This day was loaded with panels and the transformational information continued to be given to those in attendance. The networking was great this day as well, shoutout to Ira Childress who jumped back on from Senegal to meet with attendees. One group almost caught me in my raw emotion as the conference had come to an end. When I ended the Zoom on Day Two, I was floored by the experience I was fortunate enough to be a part of.
I want to thank each panelist who took time out of their schedule to be on panels. Thank you. To the panelists who decided to stay on or jump back on to take a networking room. Thank you. To the attendees of the conference. Thank you. To those who filled out the surveys. Thank you. To Lauren, Ali and Evin, who put on an incredible event. Thank you. To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank You. To my wife who allowed me to stay downstairs for the two days of the conference while parenting three kids under six years old. Thank you.
Thank You All.
So, What’s Next for Beyond the Field?
Besides planning next year’s conference. We are diving deep into the educational space in player development. Our new purpose is: We build impactful player development professionals and programs. So, our focus will continue to be advancing the field of player development, but we will do it by developing those in the role, those looking to get in the role and the programs they serve.
One way we will do this is the Player Development Guide Course. This course will ensure no one starts in the player development position as I did in 2016. In this four-to-five-week live course we will:
- Create a player development plan
- Create player development messaging
- Create a first 90 days gameplan
- Create an integrated yearly programming calendar
- Quantify player development achievements
- Provide interview preparation
- Create an external relationship gameplan
- And so much more
If you are interested in this course, please fill out the interest survey here: https://forms.gle/to1eCNVanJEpGmYH8