Unlike other sports where the professional component is successfully developing for many years, and where every athlete clearly understands the basic steps that he needs to do for a successful professional career, in armwrestling I see the lack of unity in this sense. It seems that even the world armwrestling stars do not fully understand what to do, in order to move up step by step, how to get a really beneficial contract, how to find sponsors and work with the media channels.
Most athletes, answering the question about their career plans say something like: "I'm just an athlete, I do not understand much in this, let promoters take care of this.» What are the consequences of such a position, we are seeing lately. World stars, which should be an example for the younger generation and appear on all possible events sign onerous contracts in the one-time effort to earn some money and to appear a couple of times on the television screen. As a result they lose time and are not free to perform at world-class tournaments they take part in for years. And this is not their private pain only - armwrestling in general is suffering of this situation.
I would like to voice my principled position on this issue. Colleagues, it's time to take your career into your own hands. To begin with, let us look at the main components of the career of a professional armwrestlers and understand what an athlete can do himself, in order to achieve success.
What does a career in the professional armwrestling consist of?
First of all - of the athlete’s ideal physical form. In order to maintain this form, the athlete must be focused on increasing his power performance, endurance through efficient and safe exercise and proper nutrition. To do this, the professional requires a lot of time and effort. Arm wrestling should be his main job. Also, the professional shall not take part in questionable competitions, status and rules of which are not safe for health and the image of the athlete. Career is step-by-step change of the athlete’s status. And the movement should be only upwards.
Secondly, it is notability.
Without your name promotion in the media space, it is impossible to become a professional. For all of the world armwrestling is primarily an exciting show. TV channels, sponsors, betting companies pay money to attract the maximum number of spectators who can become their customers.
Therefore, efforts to promote yourself through various channels, is the second most important part after the physical form. What you can do about it?
Firstly, you need to learn to share interesting, positive information and your thoughts with the audience. Let people know you as a person, learn about a titanic work you do in order to achieve your goals. Whatever you think about your appearance and oratorical qualities, you know - among the billions of people in InfoSpace there are several thousands people, which share your lifestyle and values and they will become your fans. Today, in addition to television, which is costly and about which I will tell more below, there are social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and others that allow you to collect the audience of your own fans. The secret of success in social media - is a systematic work. Every day write small posts, post short videos, share music and the articles you liked. Show what you like, what kind of person you are. Examples of such work of other athletes, you can easily find in social networks. Besides fans attraction, this work will prepare you for a higher professional level of communication - with TV, big sponsors and promoters.
Finally, the third important component of career professional armwrestlers
is the finance. I put the finance in third place not accidentally. Many athletes believe that the lack of money is the main obstacle to building a successful career in sports. This is a misconception. Today there are many opportunities to attract finance, but the main problem is that often the athlete on his own does not know how to take advantage of these opportunities for a successful future. Everybody is focused on one-time earnings today, and existing contracts do not bring permanent income also.
So, what kind of opportunities I am talking about. First of all, it's sponsors. Athlete achieves results, performs at competitions in order to attract the attention of sponsors. Usually single athletes, who have their own sponsor are satisfied by small amounts, which allow pay for gym, sports nutrition, visit the competition and cover some small costs. Typically, this support is based on personal relationships and actually it is a support, not an investment to an athlete’s career. The really big sponsors, at the time of the negotiations, are interested in having big tournaments with an athlete, in a certain pool of fan, in media attention. Naturally, there is practically no chance for the mid-level athletes to get sponsor of this kind.
Therefore, many non-team sports athletes choose the second source - the services of promoters or promotion companies.
Promoters and promotion companies attract many sponsors at the same time, organize sports events, contracts with television channels, do the promotion through other media channels. Some promotion companies are able to invest in an athletes’ career. They are professionals who attract sponsorship funds for the organization of tournaments and «own» athletes promotion. They know what kind of information sponsors and investors need to make a positive decision. However, not everything depends on the promoters and not always cooperation even with the most famous and rich promoters can be successful. The fact is that promoter depends on the market and is oriented to its demands. The most interesting for public and demanded athlete will always be of a higher priority for the promoter. Investments are allocated accordingly. Therefore, many athletes make the mistake when, after signing a contract, sit back and expect that promoter will do all the work. Hence all the frustrations associated with unfulfilled expectations. The athlete should take control over his career, constantly weigh the pros and cons of each step. First of all, he should look not at the amount on the check but at two or three-year cooperation perspective. All this is very serious, and yet we will see that the current situation with the enslaving contracts will end for someone with premature retirement. The second thing that is important to pay attention to is promoter’s specialization on your sport. What events does he have in his portfolio? Were they successful? Where are the athletes who previously collaborated with him and how long those whom he promotes today are working with him?
Any promoter, primarily promotes his events, as it is the number one opportunity to attract money. Pay attention to how your performance at these events will affect your training, lifestyle, and if the promoter is willing to promote your name specifically.
Today a lot of us debate about how harmful contracts are to the development of armwrestling in general. In fact, in the history of relations between the athlete and his promoter truth lies in the middle. Athlete, for his part, must consider his promoter as a means or instrument for building his career. If an athlete has no vision of his own future, he becomes a promoter’s instrument to achieve promoter’s goals.
Professional Armwrestling League USA is now working on the creation of a professional armwrestling industry. Work is conducted in three directions at the same time: training seminars and research on effective and safe training; Public relations - armwrestling promotion and athletes promotion in the information space: TV, articles, social media, youtube, etc .; organization and conduct of professional armrestling tournaments with cash prizes and sponsors. PAL USA team enthusiasts are working out tools with which an athlete can build his career with his own hands. Detailed information about how to use these tools - in our following articles. Follow our publications.
Igor Mazurenko