The best kind of mad 👏
Good morning. March is the good kind of mad.
I'm an English nerd at heart (and in profession), so I like to think about the different uses for words. Too often, our main use for "mad" is to use it as a swap for angry, insane, or other negative adjectives. But there is also the version of "mad" that is synonymous with adjectives like passionate, zealous, and enthusiastic. Or the usage of "mad" as an adverb that means "very; extremely."
And that is how I like to think of March. It is a time of passionate fans, enthusiastic score checkers, and zealous mascots. It is a time for extremely animated recaps of the previous night's events.
Thursday and Friday begin the Sweet Sixteen games for the men's and women's NCAA basketball teams respectively, while today marks the start of the Men's D1 Swimming and Diving Championships.
It is a mad cool time to be a sports fan. Happy viewing to you and your sport!
Other big news this week:
The 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships starts today! Have you viewed the psych sheet yet?
Seeking some motivation? Check out the motivational videos Sandra Frimerman-Bergquist has been posting!
P.S. Nervous about missing upcoming news from CG Sports? Follow us on Instagram (@cgsportsco), Facebook (CG Sports Management), and, of course, our weekly newsletter.
WHAT'S HOT
A roundup of the CG Sports Teams' favorite weekly content from the most 🔥 athletes in the biz.
Mandy Marquardt returned to Penn State's campus recently to share her journey with students, faculty, and staff. The talk was titled "The Detour: Navigating Life, Sport and Type 1 Diabetes," which highlighted her training regimen, career highlights, videos, and her own track bike.
Olivia Carter competed at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships last weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. Carte was a member of Michigan's 200 medley relay (6th), 400 medley relay (5th), 200 freestyle relay (7th), and 800 freestyle relay (17th). She also competed in the individual 100 fly (9th - 50.82) and tied for 2nd with Stanford's Regan Smith in the 200 fly (1:51.19).
Click here to view the full results from the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.
Registration is still open for Tianna Madison's Speed & Power Clinic with Spire Academy. The clinic will include activities like defining strength and it's sources, testing and plyos, and goal-setting. Learn more about the Spire Academy and this clinic here.
DEMAND YOUR BRAND
What We Can Learn from the Saint Peter's Basketball Team
Raise your hand if you had to ask where Saint Peter's University is. Last week, "Saint Peter's University" hit peak search interest on March 17th on Google, with the highest level of interest from...you guessed it, New Jersey and Kentucky. I am clearly not alone in being blown away by the success of the Jersey City basketball team. Having seemingly come out of nowhere, we can learn a few things from their presence on the court, and their coach, Shaheen Holloway's:
Resources are not always tangible. It isn't about the money, equipment, staff and technology...it's about grit, willingness to trust the process, trust your training, and work as a team. Resources can be your teammates lifting you up through a tough week, sharing your merchandise on social media, or accountability partners through training.
Focus on the controllable. Build your internal toolbox to take on external pressures and meet (and exceed) your goals.
Do the work even when no one is watching. Start early. Develop your goals, how you will reach them, and who can help you get there. Continue building.
It's a game. Sport is meant to be fun, competitive, and just one way to challenge yourself. It builds character and lifelong skills and it may be a career path for some, but when the nerves hit, remember, "it's basketball." Enjoy it!
How we brand this: our athletes
Bringing on a new client is always a big deal for our company and something we take a lot of pride in. Allow me to explain just how our brand camp service works and the process our athletes go through.
Identifying our client's brand. This begins with a series of extensive questionnaires that we have spent years developing. Every athlete has a unique story that will make the athlete stand out in a specific market.
Bringing the brand to life. Each client goes through in depth sessions with our team to design their personalized logo, professional website, media kit, hype video and custom merchandise.
Launching the brand. Thousands of athletes may get paid to do their sport. Only a handful (about 2%) will build their professional brand. Unsurprisingly, 95% of sponsorship deals go to the athletes who can demonstrate they have an actual 'brand'.
And that's it! Have a great rest of your week and thank you for reading our newsletter and supporting our athletes.
A Note from SBR Sports CEO, Karen Allard
By now all of us have seen the horrors that the Ukrainians are going thru AND you may ask, why am I reaching out to you? Our corporate European office is located in Poland. We have employees, and many friends in Poland and the Ukraine. Right now, our office is organizing housing for many of the Ukrainian Junior Swimmers and their families who have recently come across the border. We are supplying them with warm host housing provided by generous Polish swimming families, clothing, and food. To take their minds off of this senseless war, these young swimmers will be invited to train at pools in different parts of Poland. In addition, these Ukrainian swimmers will also be supplied with donated swim gear, bags, equipment, TRISWIM products, and a loving swim coach who will now become, not only their coach, but quite possibly, their mental coach.
BUT how can we help? For the next two weeks, from Tuesday, March 15th until March 29th, TRISWIM will be running a 20% off sale on all products. On March 30th, proceeds will be wired to SBR SPORTS EU in Poland to HELP with purchasing FOOD for our fellow Ukrainian swim families and their generous hosts.
If you would like to help purchase food for our Ukrainian and Polish friends, click on the link here. This link will take you directly to our website and the discount will automatically apply when you check out.
Please help support these Ukrainian swimmers in Poland with food.
SPONSOR
Sports PR Summit
Sports PR Summit was born out of the idea that all stakeholders within the sports community can (and should) learn from one another. Since 2013, Sports PR Summit has been bringing athletes, PR practitioners, digital media executives, and more, together for events centered around panel discussions, networking opportunities, and trends.
In addition to their signature in-person event, Sports PR Summit offers several web events throughout the year.
Click here to learn more about Sports PR Summit and all they have to offer.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
The new Team Novo Nordisk jersey honors Leonard Thompson, the first person to receive an insulin injection!
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ
A collection of the CG Sports Teams' favorite random news of the week. 📚
WNBA: Brittney Griner is still jailed in Russia and we're not hearing much. Why not?
NFL: Winners of the inaugural Pro Football Hall of Fame's Award of Excellence have been announced.
NBA: Lebron James is on a quest to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time scoring record.
NASCAR: Xfinity's Jesse Iwuji is driven by lessons from his Nigerian parents and credits them for his discipline and success.
PODCASTS
Champion's Mojo
There are a LOT of podcasts available to listen to these days, so in between new episodes, we wanted to help you choose your next listen. (You didn't ask for our advice, but we wanted to offer it anyway.) Prep for the Men's NCAA D1 Swimming & Diving Championships by catching up with NC State's Braden Holloway. Holloway shares some of his strategic steps to success, including how he values being a mentor to his team members. Holloway talks about taking the NC State swimming teams from a “lull” to championship seasons and the progression over the years of his coaching tenure.
Catch up on EVERY episode at ChampionsMojo.com.
