CHAPTER 7

The National Football League

Player Engagement Program Prepares for Life After Football

Troy Vincent

The National Football League (NFL) is redefining the role of lifelong learning by using the pxlatform of sports to set new standards in education and training.

What began in the early 1990s as a former player’s request for an off-field program has developed into the sports industry standard to support the players’ transition to the next stage of their careers. The NFL Player Engagement (NFLPE) program facilitates this transition by promoting and providing education while players are still on the field. In just the past few decades, NFLPE’s comprehensive number of educational offerings (ranging from boot camps to professional internships) have quadrupled. Even with the increased number of offerings, player interest in these programs has accelerated to where demand now exceeds supply. The interest reaches beyond the NFL, with other professional leagues soliciting advice about this program.

Program Description

Only 6.5% of high school football players go on to play in college, and only 1.6% of college athletes are drafted by the NFL. Athletes in the NFL play for an average of only 3 years (Exhibit 7-1). That is why the NFLPE has gone to the next level in becoming lifelong educators, starting early with high school programs, such as the PREP 100 Series, and continuing on by collaborating with the finest institutions of higher learning in the United States, with the goal of helping athletes develop a second career that last a lifetime.

Exhibit 7-1.   Number and percent of high school athletes who continue to play beyond high school.

Source: National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), 2013. http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/probability-competing-beyond-high-school.

NFLPE is available to competitive football players nationwide—not just NFL players. This player engagement (PE) model targets three main audiences:

1. Prep (high school and college student athletes)

2. Life (current NFL players)

3. Next (former NFL players)

The only requirement for entry into these programs is to play for a high school, university, or professional football team, and, at the Prep level, to meet academic eligibilities.

Clearly, no effort of this size and scope can operate in a vacuum on such a broad scale, and PE has partnered in this endeavor with a multitude of organizations, including venerable institutions such as the United States Army and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teaching partners for various programs include business schools, such as Wharton (University of Pennsylvania), Kellogg (Northwestern), Stanford, and Notre Dame. Business partners, including companies such as Microsoft, Merrill Lynch, United Way, and Cisco, both underwrite programs and provide internship opportunities. To bolster this list of external expertise, PE utilizes internal sources as well through its Ambassadors Program, a cadre of past players who have been actively educated and involved with PE, who spread the word about the need for lifelong learning and to develop skills off the playing field. That message is rooted in PE’s guiding principles of faith, family, and football that can lead to the desired outcome of total wellness, which is presented to players as “Q5” (the fifth quarter of their game) and features financial, emotional, personal, and physical services.

Ultimately, with so many services available, PE’s goal is to teach the players at all levels to maximize the many off-field opportunities both during and after their playing days, starting in high school and progressing through life. The thinking behind this program is that players will best learn about their career options through the diverse combination of resources offered by the PE and its college, business, and agency partners. With these strong partners, NFLPE supports lifelong learning through a wide variety of offerings that are tailored to each stage of a player’s career.

Prep

For student athletes, NFLPE offerings focus on academic excellence, financial literacy, character development, conflict resolution, communication, and health, safety, and wellness.* These topics are all important because, for the vast majority of Prep participants, their financial future is not in the NFL, but is in their education. These programs are divided into offerings for high school students and college students.

High School

Three strong examples of NFLPE programs for high school football players are NLF Prep 100 Series, Prep Leadership Program, and Prep Sports Career Expo.

NFL Prep 100 Series. Presented by Under Armour (New York, NY), this 2-day program has been specifically designed for high school athletes to further develop their leadership skills in academics and athletics. Of the hundreds of players who attend the regional sessions, the top performers are selected to attend a leadership forum during the week of the NFL rookie symposium. Highlights of this program include classroom sessions on player health and safety; on-field instructions highlighting technical drills and techniques; insight into the academic and athletic experiences of a professional athlete from current and former NFL players; officiating workshops offering an overview of potential career paths; and NCAA representatives leading classroom sessions for parents and student athletes on the most up-to-date information regarding eligibility, recruiting, and compliance information.

Prep Leadership Program. The Leadership Program, conducted at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, is for a select group of 36 top senior high-school student athletes. The program recognizes the success of the invitees and provides participants with a few days of specific leadership training and development programming. The rigorous coursework, breakout groups, and panels specifically designed by the Wharton School provide a formal foundation of leadership training for this next generation of leaders. The program curriculum includes basics of leadership (assessments, styles, motivating others); professional development (life skills, social media); career development (preparing for the future through résumé writing, mock interviews, public speaking, and networking); financial education (introduction to financial terms, tools, and the role of financial advisors); and basics of management.

NFL Prep Sports Career Expo. This expo, produced in conjunction with Why Not Sports, Inc. (Atlanta, GA), enlists professionals from all aspects of the sports industry to inform, educate, and enlighten student athletes on career opportunities within the professional sports arena. Students learn about the academic requirements to successfully transition from high school to college and a broad spectrum of career opportunities within the sports industry outside of being a professional athlete. Examples include the following:

• Sports journalism

• Officiating

• Player engagement

• Coaching

• Athletics administration

College Football

NFLPE provides supports for all NCAA football players, not just those drafted by professional teams. These include both direct programs for student athletes (for example, the Life Skills Roundtable for Student Athletes) and guidance for universities to help them support their students (the Life Skills Education and Professional Development Summit).

NFL-NCAA Life Skills Roundtable for Student Athletes. This event is designed to provide student athletes with a forum to discuss the resources and support that they need in order to meet their personal and professional goals. Through intimate discussions with a diverse group of student athletes (of both sexes, of various ethnicities, and of many sports), the NFL and the NCAA gain a better understanding of the personal and professional development needs and goals of student athletes. The student athletes have the opportunity to participate in professional development seminars as well as assessments to increase their self-awareness of skills and aptitudes.

NFL-NCAA Life Skills Education and Professional Development Summit.

This summit is a partnership between the NFL and the NCAA focused on identifying and outlining the synergies that exist between NFL player engagement directors and intercollegiate athletics professionals. The summit is designed to provide relevant, effective, and practical training and professional development opportunities to enhance the ability of athletics professionals to serve student athletes in the areas of life skills and student athlete development. Attendees acquire a better understanding of how to enhance student athletes’ personal growth based on their needs, and of how the NFL and NCAA can work collaboratively on student athlete programming and resources.

Program objectives are to create an environment where institutional and organizational best practices for development of student athletes can be shared and explored; to provide participants with education and training on methods and resources they can use to better support student athletes’ personal development, and encourage their participation in programming; to collaborate on topical areas that have the potential to impact student athlete growth and success; and to educate participants about the structure of the NCAA and NFL and the resources and programs provided by both organizations.

Life

Becoming a professional athlete is a life-changing event. Accordingly, the NFL provides new professional players with the supports to manage their life and their new financial situation. These include, but are not limited to, the rookie symposium, the Rookie Success Program, a continuing education program, and professional development.*

NFL Rookie Symposium

This symposium is an orientation for all drafted rookies on the topics of NFL history, total wellness, experience, and professionalism. It includes presentations, videos, and workshops focused on these and other topics, including player health and safety, decision making, mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence prevention, nondiscrimination, and maintaining positive relationships. Rookies are provided with resources and best practices to assist them with their shared responsibility in successfully identifying off-the-field challenges and transitioning from college to the professional level.

Rookie Success Program

The Rookie Success Program is designed to reinforce the professional developmental activities addressed at the rookie symposium and further assist with the transition into the NFL. This 9-week, psychoeducational, classroom-based program is designed to teach players how to improve their decision-making skills, and to utilize the resources available to them and their families. It includes topics such as family safety, lifestyle management, impulse control, anger management, time management, stress management, domestic violence, and public safety.

NFL Continuing Education Program

The Continuing Education Program (CEP) helps players complete their undergraduate degrees or seek other higher educational opportunities to meet their career and life goals. In partnership with colleges and universities across the country, the CEP staff help players to design detailed, individualized plans to reach their educational goals. Developed with the help of academic advisors, these individualized educational plans may include opportunities to pursue coursework in a player’s franchise city, at his original institution, or through distance learning via Internet-based coursework.

Professional Development Program

The Professional Development Program is an interactive presentation designed to raise players’ awareness of transitional opportunities in how to achieve success in their life after football. Topics addressed may include dealing with friends and family, managing finances, balancing work and family, and dealing with a high-profile environment.

Next

Recognizing that the average career of a player in the NFL is less than 3 years, NFLPE provides considerable support for players as they move onto their next career, including internships to facilitate learning about other sports-related careers (coaching, broadcasting) and other common second careers (restaurant management), and to foster the peer-to-peer support that helps with this major life transition. Programs in Next include, but are not limited to, the Transition Assistance Program, the Career Development Symposium, and Career Development Program internships.*

Transition Assistance Program

NFLPE recognizes that transition is a continual process, unique to each individual’s situation. It encompasses all aspects of life, which is why the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) focuses on total wellness. TAP is a partnership between former players and Georgia Tech faculty to provide transitioning assistance for players and their significant others. The curriculum features sessions pertaining to fitness, nutrition, career development, financial success, and much more. Players and significant others receive peer-to-peer support from former NFL players who are trained as transition coaches.

Career Development Symposium

Program participants who are interested in coaching or management are nominated by their franchise. Participants develop necessary leadership skills and familiarize themselves with the hiring process through networking opportunities, interview preparation, and the chance to gain perspective from current owners, general managers, and head coaches. The program is designed to strengthen the pipeline of management and strengthen the pipeline for general manager and coaching positions.

Career Development Program Internships

The Career Development Program provides internships and job shadowing, that is, following another employee through the workday to learn the job, to help players learn about career options. As noted earlier, major corporations work with NFLPE to provide work placement for players evaluating their next career state. In addition to tose external business partners, players work as interns in NFL offices in China, Mexico, and Canada.

Program Impact

The NFLPE’s arrival at this specific level of training has evolved over the past 20-plus years. It began from a simple request to the player development program and expanded into a full department focused on player engagement. Along the way thousands of players have participated in the program. Demand is high. One important milestone for the program in meeting players’ needs is a quantum leap in the number of courses offered. After years of demand exceeding the number of offerings, now every one of the hundreds of annual applicants complete at least one player engagement course.

This “graduation rate” is a strong indicator that players are achieving success beyond their football career, which ultimately will prove to be an excellent return on investment for the NFL since fewer players may need assistance later. This is because the robust NFLPE staff serves players in pointing them to satisfying careers in a myriad of fields, from media and business to coaching and officiating. Countless players in every industry have climbed the corporate ladder or capitalized on their entrepreneurial skills to open successful businesses. In many instances, these new careers are extremely lucrative financially and can even create a brand beyond what the players established on the field, as is the case with NFLPE and broadcast boot camp veteran Tim Hasselbeck, who now may be known as much as a football expert on ESPN as he was as an NFL quarterback. This program is also beneficial for employers, who find a steady stream of still-young applicants who mostly come from college backgrounds and have already customized their career aspirations through NFLPE educational programs.

Conclusion

Today, players in the NFLPE program are offered four times as many programs and courses as were available just 3 years ago, and still more growth is planned for the future. The increased numbers of players involved in the program are the “best-of-the-best”—world-class overachievers who have made a lifelong commitment to reach the highest level the game has to offer. Their productivity is played out on the most public stage imaginable, and then they take those talents to the NFLPE programs to keep on learning in their lifelong quest for success.

The success of this program has drawn the attention of other professional sports leagues. This expanding interest is resulting in increased collaboration between the NFL and other sports leagues for advisory services and consultation to develop or replicate new initiatives.

* For more information, go to https://www.nflplayerengagement.com/prep/.

* For more information, go to https://www.nflplayerengagement.com/life/.

* For more information, go to https://www.nflplayerengagement.com/next/.