What It’s Like Planning and Running Social Media Day by Yourself With 30 Pro Lacrosse Athletes
Social Media Day sounds fun in theory. In reality? It’s controlled chaos—especially when you’re doing it by yourself, in another country, with 30 professional athletes, and a very tight clock.
This past November, I handled Media Day for my professional lacrosse team, the Georgia Swarm, in Hamilton, Canada. Photos, videos, planning, execution—everything. No extra hands. No margin for error. Just a plan, a camera bag, and a lot of trust in prep work.
Here’s what it’s really like.
Step One: Planning What’s Actually Doable Solo
Before I ever packed a camera, the biggest question was: What can I realistically pull off alone?
When you don’t have a team, every idea has to pass a reality check:
Can I set this up quickly?
Can I shoot it consistently?
Can I keep players moving without bottlenecks?
Can I manage files, naming, and tracking on the fly?
Especially when you’re in Canada, planning matters even more. You can’t just run to a store if something breaks or you forget a piece of gear. Everything needs to be thought through ahead of time.
I mapped out:
Exact photo poses
Shot lists
Video concepts
Timing per player
Gear needs (and backups)
The goal wasn’t to do everything. It was to do the most important things well.
Getting There: Traveling Smart (and Scrappy)
To make Media Day work, I flew into Buffalo, rented a car, crossed into Canada, and rented a white backdrop with poles locally. Everything else—cameras, lenses, lighting, hard drives—came with me.
Traveling solo with gear forces you to be efficient. Every item had a purpose. If it didn’t earn its spot, it didn’t come.
Photo Day: 30 Players, 90 Minutes
Photo day came first—and it had to be fast.
We had 30 players and about an hour and a half. That meant no wasted movement, no confusion, and no improvising on the spot.
Each player got:
Five set poses that I pre-planned for consistency across the team
A few players had additional poses tailored to them (personal brand, position, personality)
To keep everything organized, I:
Marked off each player as they finished
Shot in a consistent order
Kept lighting locked so I wasn’t adjusting every five minutes
It was nonstop. But because the plan was tight, it worked.
Video Day: Breaking It Into Manageable Pieces
The next day was video—and instead of cramming everything into one exhausting session, I spread it out after practice across multiple time blocks.
That made a huge difference.
We captured:
Intro-style videos
Short-form clips for TikTok and social
Video board content for in-game use
Assets I could reuse throughout the season
By thinking long-term, I wasn’t just creating “Media Day content.” I was building a content library I could pull from all season long.
The Gear That Made It Possible
For anyone curious about the technical side, here’s what I used:
Sony FX3 for video
Sony A7 III for photography
Godox flash kit for professional, consistent lighting
Buying a solid flash setup was a game-changer. It elevated the photos immediately and gave them that polished, pro look—without needing a full studio crew.
Perspective: Last Year Was Even Wilder
As intense as this year was, it was actually an improvement.
Last year, I had 2 hours total to do everything—intro videos, photos, and content planning. It was exhausting, chaotic, and honestly a little insane. But it taught me how to move fast, adapt, and prioritize under pressure.
This year felt smoother because of those lessons.
What I Learned Doing It All Myself
Running Social Media Day solo teaches you a lot—fast.
Preparation is everything. You don’t have time to think on-site.
Simple concepts win. Clean, repeatable content beats complicated ideas.
Athletes appreciate efficiency. When you respect their time, they respect the process.
You don’t need a big team to create big results. You need a plan.
It’s stressful. It’s tiring. But it’s also incredibly rewarding to look at the final content and know you made it all happen.
Would I love extra help next time? Absolutely.But doing it solo proved something important: with the right prep, trust in your skills, and a little controlled chaos, you can pull off more than people think.
And then do it again next season.
If you want, I can:
Tighten this for a portfolio blog
Make it more casual LinkedIn-style
Add a short intro hook or headline optionsJust say the word.
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