It’s About Who Knows You...Advice From a Young Coach

At some point, you will have to gain a coach’s attention, build a relationship, and earn that coach’s trust. The coach needs to know who you are, through and through. Erick Hernandez elaborates...

In part one of this three part series, I spoke about believing in yourself throughout your journey and the fact that all of us have leadership qualities within ourselves. In part two, I discussed how “not all work is good work”. In the final installment of this series, I am going to talk about how it’s not about who you know, but rather who knows you!

One of the most important things I learned an off-season ago is, “It’s not about who you know, but rather who knows you”. This advice is very important for my own journey as a coach, but it should be important for yours as well. We all know celebrities, but do they know us? Chances are, probably not. So what good does it do us if we have no relationship with the person we claim to know? In football, most have aspirations of playing at a high level. At some point, you will have to gain a coach’s attention, build a relationship, and earn that coach’s trust. The coach needs to know who you are, through and through. We all have a lot of phone numbers in our phones, but how many of those people will pick up the phone when we call or answer our text, let alone call or text us first? If you want people to know you, you must put yourself out there and perform when opportunity presents itself. Being persistent is also an important trait if you want someone to know who you are. Failure is inevitable and tests our true intentions. If you truly want something, failure should not deter you from trying relentlessly; something will give in eventually. The opportunity or outcome may not be exactly what you wanted or you may not have received it the way you wanted it, but all opportunities are setting you up for something bigger. Lesson three, it is not about who you know, but rather who knows you.

In summary of this series, believe in yourself and the work you have done, so long as the work is good work, and understand that it is not about who you know but rather who knows you. There is a lot of advice I can give but these three things have stood out to me the most after reflecting on my first year as a coach. I hope these tips generate true reflection and help each of you reach success in the endeavor of your choosing. These tips may be primarily from a football perspective but as I mentioned in part one, there is undoubtedly a direct connection between football and life.