StephenPineau

All sponsors see when they look at you is a large $100 bill. The goal of them sponsoring you is to get them more business. IMO, angling skill has nothing to do with it. Selling yourself has everything to do with it. If you cant throw anything but a zebco, but you can sell 1000 packs of GYCB senkos at a trade show, then your going to be sponsored over the guy who can put a jig in a thimble 20 yards away, but doesn't have marketing skills. If your hellbent on sponsors, concentrate your efforts on how to effectively sell yourself. Kid knows his stuff.....You're gonna go a long way Senko...

I have to agree with JT. Whereas I can see where many of these kids are coming from (with wanting to get sponsors), I don't think that sponsorship should be anywhere on their list of priorities until much farther down the road in their career. I also think what a lot of people don't realize is that individuals that hound companies for a little product here and there or some sort of 'nothing' discount, actually hurts individuals that have already established themselves within the industry and their associated companies. What I mean by that is that it is becoming SUCH a common theme to see some 15 or 16 year old kid with a collection of logos on their jersey that companies begin buying into the idea that these individuals are deserving of a deal. Then, when they turn around and decide to help them out, it puts more and more strain on the company. Subsequently, when it comes time for established individuals to renegotiate contracts or improve their deals, the company has been taxed all year long and is then not able to provide the optimal deals to deserving anglers. It winds up being a sort of "trickle effect" that ends up hurting everyone in the industry.