In
my first segment I was on a train bound for NYC to meet up with Mike Lyons and Adam Silver of Silver Model Management. It was just two days after winning my class at the NPC Rhode Island Championships and I was doing everything in my power not to eat everything in sight! I ended up having a great meeting with Mike and Adam and I am now in the process of updating my portfolio so that I can start getting some modeling work as a Silver Model. I feel very excited and feeling blessed to have such an amazing opportunity.
Today I am just days out from what is perhaps the biggest show of my competitive career, the NPC Team Universe, in Teaneck, NJ. This will be my second time competing at the Team Universe and my 3rd time competing on the National Stage. After competing at the Team Universe last year (where I placed 12th out of 26 in my class) I was very disappointed with my placing. I can remember getting up on stage at prejudging and realizing that some of the judging panel was not even looking up at me as I went through my posing and quarter turns. “What the heck is this all about?” I said to myself. Here I had spent the past 4 months working my ass off, making sacrifices (and spending quite a bit of money in the process) only to get up on stage for my 15 seconds and walk off feeling as though I had been “snubbed”.
Competing on the National Stage is very different from competing at the Regional/National Qualifier shows. I was naïve to think I could show up (in what was at the time my BEST stage package yet) and claim victory. I didn’t realize the sheer number of quality physiques I would be going up against. Add to this that most of these guys are veteran National Level Competitors, have sponsorship contracts/endorsements from some well known companies in the industry, are well connected with the NPC community and have “paid their dues” so to speak. So there I was …a virtual “no-name nobody” with a glint in my eye for a shot at the pro card. When I didn’t make the first callout, or the second…I did my best to hide my disappointment on stage.
After pre-judging I tried to assess what had happened. The Final was held the next night which meant I had a lot of down time during the day to talk with people, network and ask questions. The more people I talked to, the more I realized that competing and placing well on the National Stage involves a lot more than just the quality of the physique you bring to the stage on that given day. There are rare exceptions however, but it became clear that I needed “pound the pavement” so to speak, network and market myself as tenaciously and methodically as I train in the gym. I needed to make the right connections with people in the industry all in the effort to raise my identity as a serious National Level Competitor.
At that time I didn’t have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other Social Media outlets (except for my YouTube page which I updated from time to time) at which to use to my advantage. That all changed when I arrived back home from NJ and set in motion a plan to make my mark. I set my sights on competing at the IFBB North American Championships in Pittsburgh just 2 short months after Team Universe. It was my hope that all my efforts I would be putting in between the 2 shows would have influence on my placing. My goal was realistic, to place top 10 in my class and build from there…(to be continued…)
*David Lees is a National NPC Physique competitor, CPT, Husband, Father and Entrepreneur seeking sponsorship, modeling and other fitness related opportunities on his journey to becoming an IFBB Physique Pro. You can follow along on his journey at:
FB www.facebook.com/DavidLees/MPD
Instagram & Twitter @NPCDAVIDLEESMPD
YouTube www.youtube.com/user/ZerosigFF
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