We recently connected with Karl Barkley and have shared our conversation below.
Karl, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
At the beginning of the pandemic, my roommate was talking to her younger sister about her college sports recruiting process and sounded a little dismayed. While my roommate had played soccer in college at an NCAA Division III school, she didn’t know much about the college basketball recruiting landscape that her sister was attempting to navigate. The pandemic muddied the water more by taking away all in-person events and moving everything online.
I played college basketball and I thought I might be able to provide some help and share insights from what I’d learned in my own process. We ended up speaking on the phone for around two hours and by the end of the call we’d built her an excel sheet with a list of potential schools and factors for evaluation that really mattered to her (think location, weather, academic programs, etc.).
After the call I felt a sense of deep accomplishment and enjoyment at passing along the information to someone who was standing where I’d been in the past. After reflecting on the experience on some long walks over the course of the next few weeks, I decided to start sharing more information like what I’d shared on the call on social media. At the beginning the uptake was pretty limited, but eventually the content started to resonate and D3Direct was off and running.
Fast forward nearly 5 years and D3Direct is now the go-to source for reliable information on NCAA Division III athletics recruiting & admissions. In many ways my overall goal is still the same as it was that day I hopped on the phone call – to be the resource I’d wish I’d had as I went through my own college sports recruiting process. In getting to work on growing this venture, I feel more and more like I’ve found my purpose in helping others in their own process.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Right now I’m focused on building D3Direct and bringing an unparalleled level of service to small college athletics recruits and their families. In my opinion (and from my experience as a recruit) there is an oversized focused in our society on the high-major D1 scholarship route, but no one is showing kids how good going D3 (NCAA Division III) can be for their lives. Not just for the four years while they are in college, but for 40 years beyond as it sets them up to have a successful career after athletics are done.
Right now we are sharing information via our two weekly newsletters, one focused on NCAA D3 athletics recruiting & admissions while the other one shares relevant scholarships with upcoming deadlines (Scholarship Sunday). Interested recruits or parents can subscribe to our newsletter on our website or on Substack. Both issues are free, but our paid subscribers get access to our annual Recruiting Camps List (with camp discount codes), our ever-growing scholarship database, and templates for reaching out to coaches.
Next up, we are working on a standalone recruiting course to empower recruit to DIY their process and help make hard to find information more accessible and to expand our 1:1 recruiting consulting offerings for multiple sports, but likely beginning with men’s and women’s basketball.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Student Always
I’m a firm believer in staying curious and keeping an open mind – especially when entering new situations or meeting new people. I think there’s always something that you can learn with this mindset.
As for how to do this: Put yourself in new situations, do things that make you a little uncomfortable and read a lot.
2. Being willing to try and fail
Through writing two newsletters a week I’ve had to get over some perfectionist tendencies and get better at just writing and hitting publish.
It was also what allowed me to take the leap and say ‘yes’ to my first entrepreneurial venture – launching a youth basketball training organization with Pro Skills Basketball in Chengdu, China. I learned a ton in that year and a half that I have already used as I’ve built D3Direct.
No better way to learn than trying something and seeing where you can improve.
3. Consistency
In my athletics career I was never the biggest or strongest, but I made a point to outwork people and show up for everything. In sport and in life, I think this allows for the most significant compounding of gains and growth.
It isn’t going to wow people in the short run, but in the long run you will win out if you show up to everything.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
They showed up for me and supported my goals.
There are multiple examples, but I’ll focus on a few that illustrate how they supported my goals with basketball.
My Dad would come home from work and even though he was tired he would always offer to go to the YMCA and rebound for me if I wanted to shoot baskets. I don’t think I fully appreciated it then, but now as a working adult, I know just how much effort it takes to go out and be active in the evening after a full day in the office.
My Mom drove countless road trips to tiny towns in North Carolina for me and my brother to play in travel basketball tournaments. They were never high profile and I definitely was not getting recruited at these events, but I did gain valuable experience and begin to improve as a player. Without their support, I would have never had the opportunity and probably would not have been good enough to play basketball in college.
When I was attempting to make the basketball team in high school as a 9th grader the tryouts stretched out for weeks. Every week or so, the coaching staff would post an updated list on the team website of the players that had made the cut and still had a chance to be on the team. However, this would often be posted late at night around 11pm or midnight. Since I was pretty wiped after a full day of school and then competing in tryouts, my Dad would stay up to check the list and then leave me a note on the bathroom mirror in the morning. It was a small gesture, but it showed me that I wasn’t in it alone and that he really was invested in my success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://d3-direct.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d3direct/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlbarkley
- Twitter: https://x.com/d3direct
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@D3_Direct
- Other: https://d3direct.substack.com
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
