Your journey to the NBA doesn’t have to end when your playing days do

By Bob Rathbun

Here’s the scene: A young player is in the driveway or backyard, shooting hoops. He pretends to hear a teammate scream, “three… two… one…” He launches a shot that clearly beats the buzzer and gives his team a one-point victory. This fantasy has been played out thousands of times by anyone who has ever picked up a basketball. The overriding dream is not to sink a game winning shot in an imaginary game, but for real.

For many boys and girls, this is how the dream of becoming a professional athlete begins.

It’s a wonderful vision – one that has inspired generations of players to keep practicing and playing the game. Middle school. High school. Summer camps. Hundreds of lonely hours in your driveway shooting, dribbling, passing, defending. Having that vision invokes a passion for the game that can only be satisfied by the thrill of playing and competing.

The reality is that as you get older, the competition gets better. You find that your basketball skills may not take you to the place you dreamed about. Maybe you were cut from your junior varsity team or perhaps you were just tired of playing the game.

But if you love the game of basketball, don’t give up. There are so many ways to make it to the NBA. First, acknowledge that you gave it your best shot. Statistical evidence shows the opportunities to advance grow smaller as you get older. Check the numbers from your own experience. How many kids were playing youth basketball with you when you were 6 years old vs. how many are playing on your high school team?

Don’t be discouraged.

As the play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Hawks on FOX Sports South in Atlanta, high school and college students often ask how they can become a play-by-play announcer at the major league level. I tell them the steps I followed when I started at my hometown radio station at age 12. Hang around. Get experience. Get your education. Major in speech. Work your craft. Move up the ladder.

In recent years, I added something else – it’s time to broaden your dream. Say you dreamed of playing in the NBA or WNBA. But it doesn’t happen – at least not on the court. This is how you broaden your dream.

For example, the Atlanta Spirit (the Hawks’ parent company) employs more than 200 people. Of that total, only 15 are actually basketball players. The other 185 are employed in dozens of other jobs, including coaching, scouting, administration, ticket sales, community affairs, finance, human relations, etc. And guess what, we are all in the NBA.

Kids always ask me about play-by-play. But I encourage them to look at the entire spectrum of job opportunities in sports television: producer, director, camera operator, audio technician, graphics and researcher. All those positions are equally as important to the success of a network. Find where your passion is.

When the team wins a championship, everyone is part of the victory. You even get to wear a championship ring.

So while your playing days may have seemingly come to an end, your dream of being in the NBA is still alive. All you have to do is broaden that dream. OC

BIO: Bob Rathbun is the signature television voice of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and Fox Sports South. Working more than 100 games a year, he proudly holds the seniority role of Atlanta TV play-by-play broadcasters. Rathbun, a five-time Emmy award winner also is a much-sought-after motivational speaker.

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