One of the hard things about building a career in action sports is juggling the professionalism required for a stable career with the spontaneity and unstructured fun which led us to fall in love with our pursuits in the first place. If we focus too much on the professionalism and loose sight of why we started, our personal brand can loose it’s authenticity. In this article, we help you stay authentic whilst building a strong personal brand.

To help create more clarity, we’re going to be looking into a few ways to help you define your athlete brand so it can grow your opportunities.

“We sponsor the person more than we sponsor the athlete” – Davey Smidt - Head of Athlete Management at GoPro

The concept of an Athlete Brand can be strange, but we all recognise them when we see them. Think of Michael Jordan, Nyjah Houston, Ken Block, David Beckham, Michael Phelps, LeBron, Gabriel Medina, John John Florence or Serena Williams. Sure they’re top level athletes, but they also have recognition around personality, fashion, hobbies, mentality, investments and legacy.