<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 If you want to make it in America as a pro athlete, the playbook's pretty simple: Get to the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL or (lately) MLS. \nBut lacrosse players, women's softball players, curlers and others in less-celebrated team sports? They all need day jobs to support their athletic habits. That thinking is almost always correct \u2014 but not quite always. A select few American athletes do make a living off the sports that never hit talk radio. But it's not just because they're extra talented; it's because they're extra strategic. \nSee also: A YouTube Legend Battles for His Basketball Future\nPaul Rabil is one of those athletes. America's average self-proclaimed sports nut probably doesn't know the man's name, but Rabil plays for the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse (MLL). After he first turned pro \u2014 even though he was drafted first overall by the Cannons following a stellar career at Johns Hopkins University \u2014 Rabil moonlighted for a real estate company. \nBut he's since built himself into a one-man lacrosse brand, and the only pro making a robust living off the sport. (He says he's \"comfortable;\" Bloomberg calls him a millionaire.) \nRabil, who is 28 years old, stopped by the Mashable House at SXSW over the weekend to tell us how he does it, revealing a drive and savvy more often associated with a startup founder than a professional jock. \nWe've turned his unlikely path to supporting himself into a step-by-step guide for finding mainstream success in little-hyped sports.\nStep 1: Pick a sport kids love\nRabil didn't get to where he is because nobody cares about the sport. Lacrosse is much like women's softball and, in Rabil's words, other \"sports that have high participation at the youth level but low visibility at the professional level.\"\nThat means all those kids need players to look up to, and are in the market for all sorts of equipment and apparel. And their parents, most likely, have money to spend. So just because you don't see Rabil and his peers on SportsCenter every night, to assume no one is paying attention would be a big mistake. \nOf course, none of this matters if you don't have game, so that's where our next step comes in.        \nStep 2: Become really, ridiculously good\nRabil's a pro athlete just like any other. That means daily off-season workouts with a conditioning team, including weights, cardio and plenty of skill work. In short: He busts his butt. \nIt's paid off, too. He was a two-time high school All-American and played for one of the nation's top collegiate programs in Johns Hopkins, where he became a four-time collegiate All-American. Since then he's won championships in two pro leagues, set MLL's season scoring record and starred for Team USA. Press and fans have referred to him as the \"LeBron James of lacrosse.\"\nStep 3: Get online\nRabil is active on Vine, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in addition to his spiffy personal site. He uses the platforms to show off his curiosity, humor and well-rounded personality: \n\nMy takeaways from #SXSW: Interactive fans, 2nd screen, #SportsMatter, wearable tech, @shaq is king, @mcuban's rapid fire, WWE, &amp; habaneros.\n\u2014 Paul Rabil (@PaulRabil) March 9, 2014\n\nThe value of online engagement isn't lost on Rabil, who says he wouldn't have the opportunity to be where he is now without the Internet, given lacrosse's lack of mainstream press coverage. \nStep 4: Develop the mind of an entrepreneur\nTalking to Rabil can feel more like a conversation with a business development executive than the average professional athlete. It's no coincidence he was the only pro athlete we spotted actually sitting in on panels as a regular audience member at SX Sports this weekend. \nTo get a better sense of Rabil's business mind, here's how he describes young lacrosse players: \"It's a highly addictive market. Most of the kids in the space are very affluent, highly-educated passion drivers.\" \nAnd here's how he describes the difference in attention between lacrosse and more mainstream sports: \"The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL get day-to-day impressions from 24-hour sports networks. They have the constant impressions from SportsCenter that lacrosse just doesn't have yet.\"\nIronically, Rabil says, he developed his athletic entrepreneurship while being assigned to evaluate business models as a junior real estate employee who couldn't earn a full-time living off his sport. \"I inadvertently began to evaluate the sport of lacrosse and its future potential,\" Rabil says. \nStep 5: Be irresistible to brands\n\nRabil in 2008, celebrating a Johns Hopkins win over Duke in the collegiate lacrosse semifinals. Image: Michael Dwyer/Associated PressWorld-class ability, a tireless work ethic, a student of business and Internet savvy. What's not to love from a sponsor's perspective?\nRabil ballpark-estimates he only makes about 10% of his income from his actual playing contract, with sponsorships making up about half, and his own business \u2014 a web-based lifestyle and training regimen for young players \u2014 the remaining 40%. \nRabil tells Mashable social media plays a special role in attracting a stable of sponsors led by Red Bull: \"If you can capture your own content, even if it takes the help of a film crew, and then deliver it yourself to fans over social media, when a marketer sees that kind of engagement it's innately attractive versus someone who only has appeal for what they do on the field.\"\nStep 6: Promote a bigger mission\nRabil's success as a one-man brand and marketing powerhouse doesn't exist in a vacuum. He sees himself as part of a bigger movement in lacrosse, which industry insiders hype as America's fastest-growing sport. \n\"I want to be a part of clearing some of the obstacles that lacrosse faces as a sport trying to break into the mainstream,\" he says. \"Even just right now, it's important that I'm able to tell kids out there that there actually is a full-time professional lacrosse player.\" \nPaul Rabil's not a guy you'd want to bet against. And who knows \u2014 if he succeeds on his mission, the next King James of lacrosse might just become a household name. \nBONUS: 50 Stunning Sports Photos From 2013\n\n\n\n50 Amazing Sports Photos From 2013\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1. Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins the 100-meter final at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow on Aug. 11 as lightning strikes in the sky above Luzhniki Stadium.\n\n\nImage: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2. LeBron James moments before leading the Miami Heat to a win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals on June 3. \n\n\nImage: Chris Trotman/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n3. Pro lacrosse player Stephen Berger of the New York Lizards gets encouragement from young fans before a May 31 game. \n\n\nImage: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n4. Gabriel Gonzaga employs a guillotine choke submission against Ben Rothwell in their heavyweight MMA fight on Jan. 19 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. \n\n\nImage: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5. Uruguay takes on Italy for 3rd place at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil on June 30. \n\n\nImage: Handout/Shaun Botterill/FIFA via Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6. Jarrett Jack of the Golden State Warriors celebrates a basket as fans go wild during a Feb. 22 game against the San Antonio Spurs. \n\n\nImage: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n7. Major League Baseball rookies George Kottaras of the Kansas City Royals and Robbie Ross of the Texas Rangers compete in a cow milking contest on June 1. \n\n\nImage: Rick Yeatts/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n8. Sergy Nazin of Russia competes in the world diving championships as Barcelona's iconic Sagrada Fam\u00EDlia cathedral looms in the background on July 28. \n\n\nImage: Al Bello/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n9. Baseball fans display the full range of human emotion while trying to catch an Aug. 28 foul ball at Fenway Park. \n\n\nImage: Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n10. Halima Hachlaf of Morocco lies on the track after competing in the women's 800-meter semifinals IAAF World Athletics Championships in Moscow on Aug. 16. \n\n\nImage: Christian Petersen/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n11. Boats zip between Alcatraz Island and the San Francisco skyline during the fifth race of the America's Cup Finals on Sept. 10. \n\n\nImage: Jamie Squire/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n12. Yekaterina Rudenko of Kazakhstan competes at the International Swimming Federation championships in Barcelona on July 31.\n\n\nImage: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n13. The United States takes on Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifying match amid driving snow on March 22 in Commerce City, Colo. \n\n\nImage: Dustin Bradford/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n14. Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning the Australian Open over Andy Murray on Jan. 27.\n\n\nImage: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n15. Notre Dame running back Cam McDaniel hilariously maintains perfect composure while getting tackled after losing his helmet on Oct. 19. \n\n\nImage: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n16. A prosthetic leg stands alone by the pool during the International Paralympic Committee's world swimming championship on Aug. 15. \n\n\nImage: Charles Laberge/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n17. David Luiz of Brazil is ecstatic after a teammate's goal during the Confederations Cup on June 15. \n\n\nImage: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n18. Japanese officials react after Tokyo is awarded the 2020 Olympics at an announcement ceremony in Buenos Aires. \n\n\nImage: Ian Walton/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n19. Danny Garcia lands a bloody punch on Zab Judah during their championship boxing match on April 27. \n\n\nImage: Elsa/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n20. Zafar Gohar of Pakistan and Ben Duckett of England face off in an international under-19 cricket match on Aug. 19. \n\n\nImage: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n21. An alligator guards the 14th fairway at an April 25 golf tournament in Avondale, La. \r\n\n\n\nImage: Chris Graythen/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n22. A Boston police officer at Fenway Park loses himself in the moment, celebrating a Red Sox home run in a come-from-behind win during the MLB playoffs on Oct. 13. \n\n\nImage: Al Bello/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n23. Butler coach Brad Stevens endures a moment of agony after a ref's whistle during the NCAA Tournament on March 23. \n\n\nImage: Andy Lyons/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n24. The Saints logo lines up perfectly behind quarterback Drew Brees at the Superdome in New Orleans on Sept. 8. \n\n\nImage: Chris Graythen/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n25. Maria Sharapova plays a backhand during the Australian Open quarterfinals on Jan. 22. \n\n\nImage: Julian Finney/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n26. A man watches the Brazilian national soccer team from a favela bar in Rio de Janeiro on June 9. \n\n\nImage: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n27. Jehue Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago just beats American Michael Tinsley in the world 400-meter hurdles championship in Moscow on Aug. 15. \n\n\nImage: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n28. Boston Marathon bombing victim Jeff Bauman greets the crowd before the Boston Bruins' NHL playoff game on May 4. \n\n\nImage: Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n29. Fred Jackson after scoring a touchdown for the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 1.  \n\n\nImage: Rick Stewart/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n30. Man versus bull at the National Rodeo Finals on Australia's Gold Coast on June 16. \n\n\nImage: Matt Roberts/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n31. Parrish Cox of the 49ers is a lonely man amid the Ravens' victory celebration following Super Bowl XLVII on Feb. 3. \r\n\n\n\nImage: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n32. Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium during a college football game on Sept. 21. \n\n\nImage: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n33. Carmelo Anthony sails into the crowd while chasing a loose ball for the New York Knicks during a May 1 playoff game. \n\n\nImage: Al Bello/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n34. Ryan Mathews runs from defenders during an NFL game on Nov. 17. \n\n\nImage:  Streeter Lecka/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n35. A Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader performs during a game on Sept. 15.  \n\n\nImage: Patrick Smith/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n36. Double amputee Chris Moon runs in the 135-mile Badwater ultra-marathon race on July 15 in Death Valley National Park, Calif. \n\n\nImage: David McNew/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n37. Kite-boarders compete on San Francisco Bay on June 7. \n\n\nImage: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n38. Arizona's Kevin Parrom sells a foul during the Pac-12 tournament on March 14. \n\n\nImage: Jeff Gross/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n39. Legendary NFL linebacker Ray Lewis after one of the final playoff games of his career on Jan. 6. \n\n\nImage: Patrick Smith/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n40. A young fan welcomes his heroes onto the ice before an NHL game in Raleigh, N.C., on Jan. 22. \n\n\nImage: Grant Halverson/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n41. Sunlight casts shadows during an April 21 IndyCar race on the streets of Long Beach, Calif. \n\n\nImage: Robert Laberge/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n42. Two hockey players duke it out during an NHL game. \n\n\nImage: Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n43. Peter Mel rides a wave during the Maverick's Invitational surf competition on Jan. 20 in Half Moon Bay. \n\n\nImage: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n44. Pitcher Erik Bedard of the Houston Astros casts a long shadow on May 29. \n\n\nImage: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n45. Andrei Kirilenko of the Brooklyn Nets is framed by the rim while reaching for the ball on Nov. 1. \n\n\nImage: Al Bello/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n46. Greg Owen hits a shot on Feb. 7 at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach, Calif. \n\n\nImage: Jeff Gross/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n47. A rainbow appears over Camden Yards during a game between the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees on June 28. \n\n\nImage: Patrick Smith/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n48. The field of the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore on May 28. \n\n\nImage: Patrick Smith/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n49. Russ Smith of the Louisville Cardinals tumbles into his own team's bench during a game at Madison Square Garden on March 16. \n\n\nImage: Elsa/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n50. WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, Jr., preens after defeating Juan Manual Marquez on Oct. 12. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/03/11/lacrosse-paul-rabil/>