As the creator, I am very passionate about networking with student athletes from all over the country. There was an adrenaline feeling that I would get when trying to prepare throughout my week when competing. I would ask myself “What are my opponents doing?” or “How good are my opponents really?” Seeing all of the cool highlights that other teams post on social media leading up to the time we played was nostalgic.
Not A Lucky Duck focuses on highlighting current/former student athletes, professionals, staff that competed against the University of Oregon. There is no catch, just a creative name that turns its attention towards the accomplishments of other individuals. These athletes continue to work just as hard as our own at the University of Oregon.
I am a former two-sport collegiate athlete that did not have many opportunities. Because of this, I feel that voicing my support of the athlete and the work they put in will influence my targeted audiences.
During my academic career, I currently work for the Oregon Accelerator, a student run collaboration that helps our student athletes leverage their resources to help them secure NIL opportunities. The collaboration is between the Journalism and Communication school and the Business School. I am gaining the full experience of networking by being a member of Operations. Operations is in charge of hiring, servicing other departments and providing opportunities for feedback on ways the Accelerator can be better, allowing me to enhance being an effective communicator.
As an accelerator, I spend a chunk of time planning events and working with other departments to voice our support for athletes. I see how much we do to support athletes, I am taking it another step by reaching athletes beyond my environment. As a team, we have written blog posts, attended sporting events and hosted photoshoots for our Accelerator Merchandise Drop.
Readers can expect this blog to focus on current and former college athletes and the work they do. I have created a network of meeting a ton of wonderful individuals and use this page to highlight where they are in the world. Not every individual goes professional and that is okay.
It also allows me to enhance my gift of creating mutually beneficial relationships, connecting with the public and establishing authentic credibility upon myself as a future Public Relations professional.
Jaeden Gordon 
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