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PR Lessons from Basketball

By Korryn

With the recent success of the Texas Tech men's basketball team, Lubbock has had a case of basketball-fever. The news keeps talking about what's next for the team and the "wreck 'em!" posts keep sweeping across Facebook. Texas Tech has ignited excitement throughout the community and has put the topic of basketball at the front of most conversations this last week.

Sports have always been known to teach a lot. They can teach us determination and hustle. They can teach us how to act when we win big, but they can also teach us how to fail big. It's a lot like PR if you think about it... not convinced yet? I'll explain further.

1. It takes a team

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Yeah, you might be a star, but you can't do it all. You need help. In PR, you might be great at pitching, but you could you someone to make graphics. You might be brilliant with research but fall short when it comes to knowing how to run a camera. See where I'm going with this?

2. Practice won't always prepare you for game time

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You can run drills in practice all day long, but something will always happen during a game that you didn't have time to go over during practice. In PR, you can go to school and learn the ropes and take internships to learn even more, but in the job something will always come up that you haven't had to deal with before. You have to be quick on your toes!

3. You learn from failure

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In basketball, you might soar past the competition, or you might play like you never got off the bus. Failure is inevitable, but if you think back on your failures you'll see that they probably taught you more than your wins have. So far during my time in the PR world, my bad days stick out in my memory. They've taught me patience, new strategy, and how to be better prepared and careful the next time something like that comes around.

4. Your game plan might change

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You might have your game plan set and ready to go. You're prepared... until you're not. Much like I mentioned above in #2, practice won't always prepare you and your game plan might not always work. If you're in PR and find that you're stuck in a rut and nothing is moving forward, it's time to choose a different play. You wouldn't keep running a play that never got you any points on the court, so don't keep running a strategy that is leaving you stuck.

Basketball has the ability to teach players, coaches, and even the crowd life lessons that don't just pertain to sports. What's your favorite lesson you've learned from the game?