Support athletes’ mental health, education, and overall wellness beyond sports.

Hi, my name is Darryll Stinson. I’m a former Division 1 athlete, TEDx speaker, suicide survivor, and the founder of Second Chance Athletes.

For selective readers, I’ve divided this content up into four sections. Each section has a BOLD HEADER LIKE THIS FOR QUICK READING.

The 4 sections are:

• My story
• Our story and results
• Our opportunity and what happens when this project gets funded
• Ways we are giving back
   

MY STORY

Eight years ago in August of 2012, I attempted suicide for the third time because I didn’t have the book that I’m asking you to support.

After my sports career ended, I experienced a loss of identity and an unbearable sense of anxiety and depression.

I did everything I could to get help but:

• Counselors who could address strategies for coping with depression couldn’t relate to my experience as an athlete.
• Athletes could relate to my experience but had no practical strategies to grieve sports and fall in love with life after the game.
• My friends, family, coaches, and colleagues were empathetic of my depression, but because they looked up to my athletic success, it was hard for them to understand why I was so depressed.
   

I read books, studied articles, went to church, talked to other athletes, watched hundreds of YouTube videos, and even took a graduate research class to figure out how to get over sports and bring my full self to the life that was ahead of me.

I picked up a few tips here and there, but nothing got rid of the nagging internal desire I had to go back to my glory days of being an athlete.

Thankfully, I didn’t quit. I kept pushing and after 5 years of trial and error, disappointment, and key learning points, I came to a place in life where I wouldn’t go back to being an athlete even if I had the opportunity to.

OUR STORY & RESULTS

After sharing my transition success with others I heard dozens of stories of athletes who were living their current life as if it was second best to their life as an athlete. Simply put, they were unfulfilled. I knew I would need others to help support those in transition. So, in 2017, I launched Second Chance Athletes, with the goal of building a team and a community to help more athletes rebuild their identity and lives beyond sports.

Throughout the past three years we’ve:

• Shared our message with thousands of athletes.
• We helped 623 athletes find purpose after sports.
• We’ve been featured on Fox, ABC, and NCAA for our athlete mental health expertise.
• And, most importantly, we’ve helped 172 athletes and coaches find hope and faith in  Jesus Christ.
   

We’ve done so primarily by taking athletes through our Athlete’s Transition Roadmap which is a five-phase framework designed to help athletes develop a holistic identity, discover new purpose, and live fulfilled.

The process has not only been 97% effective for every athlete we’ve worked with, but it has also been included in conversations with the three colleges, the NCAA, and several former professional athletes who seek our counsel and are already working on ways to bring our athletic transition expertise to their players.

OUR OPPORTUNITY

It’s time to share our process with the world.

Never before in the history of sports has there been a world event that has impacted the sports industry like COVID-19 has. Athlete transition was already a huge underserved problem pre-pandemic and now, with teams ending seasons, high school students losing scholarship opportunities, colleges losing money, and professional players refusing to play to protect their health, I dare say athlete mental health issues are a crisis within a pandemic.

The hard truth…

As much as I believe in my team and wouldn’t trade them for the world, our Second Chance Athletes team of four unpaid volunteers doesn’t have the capacity or know-how to get this resource in the hands of every athlete in transition across the globe.

We’ve decided to hire marketing expert Amber Vilhauer and her No Guts, No Glory team of experts to help us make a global impact and turn our service passion into a global non-profit movement.

Amber and her team have helped 30+ authors hit #1 best-sellers list and create massive movements from their books. Some notable authors include Les Brown, Mike Michalowicz, Sandra Yancey, Lisa Nichols, Bob Proctor & more.

Take a look at this behind-the-scenes video to hear Amber’s answer to my question of “What makes you different from other book marketing programs/companies?”

Amber and I have worked out a partnership where her team will oversee and execute the following:

Phase 1, PLATFORM: Fully optimize our online platform to secure our positioning in a way we can be proud of.

•  WEBSITE: They will perform a website audit report that offers their best ideas on tweaks to make the website more experiential and high-performing. Additionally, they will set up several webpages, branded materials, and assets to support our comprehensive marketing and book launch efforts.
•  MARKETING: They will set up a marketing operations system to ensure publishing regular videos, blog posts, social media, and relationship marketing.     
  •  Standout. Live: They will set up an innovative live streaming show (esp. targeting LinkedIn) based on “Live Hard” that is baked with viral optimization techniques, designed to exponentially grow our reach and engagement through social network and search engine channels.
  •  Podcasts: They will establish an operation for us to get regularly booked on podcasts to promote the book and our mission.

•  MONETIZE: They will coach AND partner with us to monetize our movement through coaching programs, sponsorships, speaking engagements, and referrals. (due to financial pressure)
   

Phase 2, NETWORK: They will deeply nurture our existing relationships for stronger business growth, plus introduce us to their high-value network. They will also give us the systems to grow our network as we scale our organization for the long-term.

• As our platform is launched and operational, they will use the live streaming show to attract high caliber guests by following a creative and strategic Influencer Journey Operation,  they will convert those Influencers into long-term supporters of our brand.
   

Phase 3, LAUNCH: Here our platform will be operational, our marketing engine will be running strong, and we will have monetization channels in place with a large engaged network. At this stage, it’s time to maximize the results of our hard work. This phase includes an 8-week launch optimization process to further our local and global impact.

Phase 4, SCALE: In this phase, we will debrief the off-boarding process to strategize and plan the next 6-9 months. We will create a detailed execution plan, and ensure all of our scaling processes are documented.

For all of this to happen, We’re raising a $50,000 budget to make sure every athlete around the world who needs support will have the opportunity to receive the help we wish we had.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THIS PROJECT GETS FUNDED?

• Thousands of high school, college, and pro athletes around the world struggling with identity, mental health challenges, substance abuse, and relational issues will have access to our resources.
• Our startup company becomes a movement and legit functioning 501(c)3 company.
• Our Transition Roadmap begins the process of expanding from solely working with athletes to working with “second chance” veterans, CEO’s, entrepreneurs, are marriages & more.
• Our scholarship foundation to send high school, college, and pro athletes back to school begins phase 1 of implementation.
   

Thank you for making a difference:

I’m so grateful you’re reading this and are deciding to help change the world by investing in these world-changing athletes. These athletes are everyone from the kid who dropped out of high school because he didn’t have a father figure in his life to speak to his potential, to the professional athlete who underestimated the challenges he/she would face after sports.

These athletes are not just heroes who we look up to and ask for autographs.

These athletes are our sons, our daughter, our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, and our friends.

And, I wholeheartedly believe that when we invest in our athletes, we can change the world. Because athletes have a track record of being high performers. And imagine with me what will happen when, for once in their life, someone’s investing in their future and providing them with this gift versus asking them for an autograph or to celebrate their last win.

Every gift counts, and I’m eternally grateful for every penny someone gives to help our athletes. I’ve listed some donor awards for those who want and are fortunate enough to have the resources to support at a higher level. You’ll see that certain giving levels will include: a signed hard copy of my book, exclusive access to interviews with current and former pro athletes, VIP access to our Live Launch event, team sponsorships, and more bonuses as we find a way to give back to those who give to us.

Take a brief moment to consider how much you will give and simply pledge your amount today. I trust your gut instinct and thank you for believing in me and our mission to impact the world by helping athletes across the globe.

Ways we are giving back

• For every $100 donation, we’ll donate a 22-lesson Discover New Purpose course to an athlete in need. (VALUE – $97)
• For every $1,000 donation, we’ll donate ten 22-lesson Discover New Purpose courses to athletes in need. 
• For every $5,000 donation, we’ll donate (100) 22-lesson Discover New Purpose courses to athletes in need, and a $5K Athlete Preparedness Workshop for a sports team. 
• For every $10,000 donation, we’ll donate (1000) 22-lesson Discover New Purpose courses to athletes in need, and a $10K Athlete Preparedness Workshop for all sports at an entire SCHOOL.
• 10% of our future book proceeds will go towards addiction recovery for former athletes.
   

Feel free to email me at darryll@secondchanceathletes.com should you have any questions or would like to discuss how you can make a major gift contribution to sponsor athlete transition training for all sports at an entire school.

Again, thank you for your time and investment.

I love and cherish you beyond words!

– Darryll Stinson

Founder of Second Chance Athletes