It was a pretty unfamiliar field. A management business aimed at professional athletes, something I had only seen in the movie Jerry Maguire starring Tom Cruise. I imagined the job as more about a well-dressed, handsome man walking around busy on the phone rather than an office with dozens of employees. This man, whom I met in the meeting, was actually a former pro athlete, and was indeed young and handsome.

Background: A market centered around large agencies. The reason why news about Korean players who have recently entered overseas leagues is not reaching the public is because these agencies' decisions to focus only on domestic leagues are behind it. Agency-centric decisions optimized for management costs and short-term profitability.

Q. What is the new agent business's differentiated player recruitment strategy?

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Let's redefine the problem - Framing

Consulting is about selling interest and perspective. The above question assumes a market-centric perspective, in other words, it assumes that athletes are commodities. The career span of pro athletes from their late teens to their mid-thirties, those considered promising players, is very short compared to other industries. European banks have limited the age for mortgage financing products for pro athletes to 34 years old. This decision is similar to the statistical conclusion of existing athlete customer management. It's based on the phenomenon of rapidly decreasing debt repayment ability after the age of 34.

But athletes are not just commodities. They are 'people' like us.

They receive direct financial support from their parents in their teens (around 200 million won until they become high school students) to get the chance to join a pro team. Afterwards, they strategize to maximize their value. However, unexpected injuries can also be a signal that they need to end this process. And retirement comes naturally with aging, faster than any other industry. Still young in their thirties. They are left with the question of what kind of job they can learn and start over with.

Studies conducted on actual professional league players show that their biggest concern and fear is about life after retirement.This can be confirmed.

• <u>Retirement planning among South African professional soccer players</u>
• <u>A Study on Retirement Anxiety and Expectations of Life After Retirement Among Professional Soccer Players</u>
• <u>Sad Olympic Retirees Have Nowhere to Go</u>

In other words, for them, transferring during their player days is not just about getting the best possible contract. It also includes the meaning of preparing for life after retirement.It's all there. While the industry's perspective is that athletes are a commodity from their late teens to their mid-thirties, when they are considered promising players, the players' perspective is that it is a family head's concern, from their late teens to their life after retirement, which is a big difference.

New Question

Can we check their Career plan that considers life after retirement beforehand and link it to transfer contract conditions? When considering a transfer to clubs in England, Germany, etc., can we present a contract that includes what kind of jobs are possible for them as athletes after retirement in that country, as well as related education programs and costs?

The above question broadens the scope of the Market perspective. And it helps to specify differentiated topics and keywords that need to be investigated. The more sophisticated and realistic the program is structured, the higher the possibility that they will have more opportunities to persuade athletes when they meet them and present contracts.

• What university education programs are available in what country for sports coaches in this industry, and how much do they cost?
• What are the range of job categories and annual income possible after completing this program?
• What is the average living cost for a family of four in that country?
• Is there a connection between professional athletes' physical abilities and the field of behavioral science?
• Is it possible to develop and implement a personalized mental management program utilizing the body?

Da Rulk, who offers his own exercise program called RFT (Raw Functional Training), is also known as the trainer for Chris Hemsworth, star of the Marvel movie 'Thor'. He majored in kinesiology and biomechanics in college and based on that, he currently provides services to firefighters and special forces personnel.

If a pro athlete says they want to do this kind of exercise program after retirement, what kind of educational opportunities and cost countermeasures can the current agent provide for them?

Risks to Overcome

The career development of pro athletes after retirement is not actually their responsibility. Even considering only the cost of raising one player, it is a national loss. Actually, this discussion has been ongoing in government ministries, but they have not been able to present clear career achievements after retirement that can utilize their athletic experience.

However, this limitation only exists within the perspective of the domestic sports market towards athletes.This is a common pattern observed. There are still many possibilities: advancing to the overseas market, where there are more opportunities; focusing on functionality, which allows athletes to move their bodies and concentrate on their physical sensations to escape from anxieties, etc. However, there is simply no attention or investment in this area.

There is personal dedication and various achievements that the public does not know about in the present day of pro athletes. If there is in-depth research that clearly understands and clarifies what that part is and connects it with market potential in reality, it is definitely possible.

Conclusion and Recommendations

'Retirement' is a reality that athletes experience suddenly. The industry turns a blind eye to this. They only care and invest in the lives of athletes from their teens to their thirties, as high-value commodities. However, athletes' lives continue afterwards, and in many cases, they are the heads of families at the point of retirement.

Any attempts to secure a foothold in the market as a new agent inherently means taking away business from existing players, so the starting point must be different. Above all, the ultimate target that needs to be persuaded is the individual players themselves. The essence of the anxieties that these athletes have harbored for a long time but have not found answers to lies in their life as heads of families, even after retirement.

What needs to be established is not some obvious job arrangement. It should be a personalized vision and investment program that helps athletes take advantage of their individual characteristics.

Therefore, the ability to present a vision of life after retirement in advance, in a consistent and detailed manner, and to discuss, within the context of an agent contract, the preparation and related costs associated with their individual characteristics and choices as an investment concept, could become a competitive advantage for this new agent. To achieve this, it requires an expanded and bold perspective on the market and athletes, and the business should proceed based on the confirmation and assurance of this value.