NIL Island, an online community and resource hub designed to support college athletes, is proud to announce the first cohort of its Athlete’s Cove program.

Athlete’s Cove is a community-centered discussion program designed to help athletes level up their NIL game alongside other ambitious athletes. Athletes will be part of five weekly virtual sessions with practical NIL tips, engaging activities, and renowned guest speakers. Athletes will also compete in various NIL-related competitions and get access to unique NIL opportunities.

Sessions will be conducted by NIL Island co-founders Leah Clapper and Kristi Dosh. Clapper competed on the University of Florida Gators gymnastics team for all 5 years of her eligibility. When the NIL rules changed in summer 2021, she wanted to take advantage of new NIL opportunities but had no idea where to begin. She knew she wasn’t the only confused athlete, so she made it her mission to “figure out NIL.”

Since then, Leah has quadrupled her social media following, worked with over 20 brands, and launched the first-ever gymnastics board game along with NIL Island.

Kristi Dosh is a former attorney turned sports business reporter, consultant and entrepreneur. She’s the founder of Business of College Sports and also teaches NIL classes at the University of Florida, in addition to hosting the Business of College Sports and The Players Platform podcasts.

Together, Clapper and Dosh have navigated nearly every aspect of the NIL space, and now they’re excited to share their expertise with the first cohort of NIL Island. They’ll also be inviting some of the leading voices in NIL to join throughout the course of the program.

Topics to be covered in the program include:

• Personal branding
• Content creation and social media marketing
• Landing NIL deals (including marketplaces, agents and more)
• Contracts and other legal issues
• Finance (budgeting, taxes and planning for the future)

The athletes taking part in Athlete’s Cove are as follows: