Becoming an NFL player was my dream since I was in junior high school AJ McCarron Jersey , and I was one of the lucky few who actually made it all the way to the NFL. I have played for the New York Giants, the New Orleans Saints, the Washington Redskins, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Jacksonville Jaguars. My life in the NFL was a remarkable experience. However, getting to the NFL was very difficult. In this article I want to discuss a few of the mental hurdles a young athlete will go through if they want to make it all the way to the NFL. My preparation for the NFL began in high school when I realized that I had a chance to play Division One football. I attended an outstanding high school program at Eisenhower High School in Lawton, OK where I played against a rival school (Lawton High School) that has produced NFL talent including Michael Minter of the Carolina Panthers, Will Shields of the Kansas City Chiefs Jeremy Hill Jersey , Daly Gardner of the Miami Dolphins, James Trapp of the Oakland Raiders, and Jamal Brown of the New Orleans Saints. Playing against the top athletes in high school really helped to raise my game to be the best it could be. As an athlete, your preparation for the pros starts when you decide you want to be the best athlete you can be for younot for your parents, not for your girlfriend, and not for your friends. To be an NFL player you must have a burning desire to play with the best and you must do everything you can physically and mentally to make yourself able to compete with the best. But being a great athlete is only half of what it takes to make it to the pros. Developing your mental skills is just as important as developing your physical skills. First, you cannot play football if you have bad grades. The real work for becoming an NFL player starts in the classroom. For me, the class room was difficult and I had to work very hard to keep my grades up. But I understood that if my grades were bad Darqueze Dennard Jersey , I would be kicked off the high school team. And, if I was kicked off the high school team, I would not be able to play college football, and college football is a requirement for becoming a pro player. Because of that, I worked very hard to keep my grades up. If you want to become an NFL player, you must take your class work seriously to give yourself an opportunity to play college football. Here is a secret most student athletes don't know. Colleges love smart athletes. By being both a great student and a great athlete, you greatly increase your chances of being recruited by a scout for a major college football team. Why you ask? Smart players make smart decisions on the football field and help win games. If you look at many of the greatest NFL players, many of them are not the best athletes. What they are Dre Kirkpatrick Jersey , are the smartest athletes. When you play in the pros, the plays are very complex and you need to think very quickly. That is why it is so important to build your brain power just as much as your athletic skills. Accomplishing this is one of the first big steps towards becoming a pro player. Another important part of being a pro player is how you present yourself as a person. Do you get along well with your fellow athletes and coaches? Are you a good member of your community? College and pro teams want cooperative team members, not spoiled athletes that cause problems, get into trouble, and are an embarrassment to the organization. An athlete that causes problems with his team members and gets into trouble with the law hurts a team. Problem players are quickly removed from competitive sports teams. Therefore, if you want to make it to the NFL, keep yourself out of trouble and be a model person. In conclusion, being a great athlete is not enough to make it to the pros. You must work hard both on and off the field. Be a person that your team can count on and be proud of. If you do this Boomer Esiason Jersey , you will increase your chances of being recruited by a college scout and making it to the pros.Throughout Europe and the entire world, there are few entertainment options that draw the devotion of the public in the same way as sports clubs and leagues. Basketball, football, and hockey draw in millions of fans per year throughout the world and bring in billions of pounds to leagues and clubs. In this way, the sports industry is one of the most successful in the world and is growing constantly. Few fans consider the vast numbers of professionals that work for clubs, leagues, advertisers, and communities in order to make sporting events possible.

The most obvious avenues for professional growth in sports are in sports training and team management. Graduates with a medical background and some experience in playing sports are always sought after as team trainers. Other graduates who have coaching or management experience Anthony Munoz Jersey , along with an applicable degree, often make their way in club management or executive positions within a sports league. With the logistical and financial issues that face a league on a daily basis, exceptional professionals are needed to handle every minute detail.

A thriving area of the sports industry is in advertising, marketing, and sponsor relations. This is perhaps the largest area of growth for jobs in sports, as bigger sponsors and larger contracts are becoming commonplace in the sports world. Advertisers and marketing professionals help get the word out in the community about their team, including creative marketing on the street and the use of the Internet. Sponsor relations professionals help bridge the gap between corporate sponsors and a sports clubs advertising department, mediating issues and providing feedback about promotional ideas.

While young professionals may want to realize their sports dreams through the aforementioned jobs Giovani Bernard Jersey , it can be tough to land that dream job. Young professionals may try to break into sports as a team trainer for a small football club, but realize that the upward mobility in their league is limited.