3 Reasons to Take GET IN THE GAME 101’s NBA Draft Course
Getting a Job in the NBA
When I was let go by the Trail Blazers a couple of years back, I was pretty burned out on hoops. It was something I’d never felt before. My first word was dada and my second was ball. But after a few years of chaos in the organization, I was burned out.
I wasn’t sure if or when I’d watch basketball again. But I did love the NBA Draft. And I did like helping others get jobs in the NBA. So I decided to launch an NBA Draft Course.
Within a week, we had 30 people join and we had an incredible 6 weeks. Fast-forward a couple of years, and we’ve now seen those and other students get jobs in the NBA, NCAA, G-League, ESPN, and more.
I never want to sell a ‘formula’ to working in the NBA because there isn’t one. But there are ways to set yourself up with the best chance. There are skills to learn. There is experience to be gained. And there are relationships to make. Those things we can help with.
3 Reasons to Take GET IN THE GAME 101’s NBA Draft Course
1 – Connecting and Networking
This is nearly always #1. Every job you are going to get is likely because of some kind of connection. The thing I love about our courses is the people who come through. We’ve had NBA Head Coaches, GM’s, Players, and Personnel from every spectrum of Basketball Operations. You have the opportunity to meet them and ask questions directly on Zoom.
But one of the other aspects of networking that might even be more important is getting to know each other. As one of our Instructors, Bret Burchard, always shares, ‘it’s not always about networking up but networking out.’ We are now seeing our students helping each other land jobs as they grow together.
2 – Knowing What To Do
How do you get an NBA Job? That’s the whole premise of GITG101. When I was trying to get a job in the NBA, I google, ‘NBA Jobs.’ I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t know where to start. By taking one of our courses, well, you’ve gotten started! We’ll help you get connected and learn about the skills and experiences you need to grow in your career.
3 – It’s Fun
One of the things I always say is to…enjoy the journey. There is no guarantee of getting a job in the NBA. But one thing we can control is enjoying and embracing the process. It’s always more about who you are becoming than what the outcome is.
The feedback we often get from our courses is how fun it was. If you love basketball and love the NBA Draft, I can almost guarantee you’ll have fun. It’s a peel back the curtain from those who have run pre-draft workouts, combines, trained draft prospects, drafted players, ran medicals on prospects, analytics, and more. It’s a 360 of everything draft related. When we first launched the course, I scheduled it for 1 hour a week and classes went 3 hours because we all had so much fun. Now, they’re scheduled for 2 hours and you can stay an extra hour if you’d like.
You can sign up at getinthegame101.com
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at john@getinthegame101.com. If you want to chat with someone who has taken the course prior, feel free to reach out to Jake Apostol at jake@getinthegame101.com who is helping out on the GITG101 team!
FAQ:
Classes: May 21-June 25, Tuesday evenings, 5-7p PT / 8-10p ET
Video: Classes will be on Zoom and all classes are recorded if you can’t make it. We typically have 4 segments per evening and occasionally one of those will be unable to be recorded (due to having a special guest).
If you are unable to make a session live, you are welcome to e-mail us your questions ahead of time so we can ask them to our guest instructors.
International: Yes! We love our international students (one has already landed an NBA scouting job). If you can’t make it live, the same applies, you can e-mail questions ahead of time. And we will make sure to have one live session at your convenience so you can meet some of the GITG101 team live.
What Our Students are Saying:
“GITG101 is changing the game!” “The learning is real and the hosts genuinely want to see you succeed! It was an experience I will never forget!”
“The journey is LONG. Hearing from so many different people about their pathway to working in the NBA was incredible.”
“I walked away with a better understanding of things, and friends to talk ball with.”
“My biggest takeaway from the course was that basketball is a small world and everyone holds their own path to get to where they want to go as they follow their dreams.”
“You will learn a lot and have a lot of fun in the process. Can't ask for much more than that!”
“This course connected me with talented peers and people who have been where I want to be. They teach a great course and I'd sign up for it again.”