RJ Kaminski never played lacrosse. However, the fanfare he receives from passionate lacrosse fans throughout the country each week matches that of any prominent player.
So how did a relative outsider become the Premier Lacrosse League’s senior director of brand and talent and one of its most visible faces on social media? To understand that is a lesson in the power of hard work, perseverance and authenticity.
Kaminski’s lacrosse origin dates to 2012 as a senior at Boys’ Latin when a friend, Tyler Steinhardt, started a nonprofit organization called Shootout for Soldiers, which hosts 24-hour events nationwide consisting of 24 one-hour lacrosse games to raise money for military veterans.
To increase awareness, Kaminski persistently tweeted at Ravens and Orioles players, local cable news anchors and Baltimore-area rappers. Steinhardt saw Kaminski’s value and added him as Shootout for Soldiers head of social marketing.
While a student at Maryland, Kaminski ran all of the organization’s social media accounts. He made fundraising commercials in his dorm room and, from 2014 to 2018, hosted a vlog on the Shootout for Soldiers YouTube channel. Through those vlogs, he built an on-camera presence and slowly started forming a relationship with the greater lacrosse community.
“RJ has a magnetic personality and optimism that draws people to him,” Steinhardt said. “You can feel his joy and happiness when you’re with him at all times. RJ’s joy and happiness are the same when he’s on camera. We were roommates for a long time, so I’d see that up close. I think that with RJ’s love, happiness and optimism, he’s just someone you enjoy being around.”
Steinhardt, The Lacrosse Network’s general manager at the time, hired Kaminski right out of college in 2017 with the hope of making him the next on-camera face of TLN. However, the transition wasn’t easy following in the footsteps of longtime TLN hosts and founders Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry.
Kaminski vividly remembers handing out TLN stickers at LaxCon 2017 and watching Rosenblum and Chaudry be swarmed by excited fans. He made an internal note that day: “I want this to be flipped next year when I come back. I want to get the warm welcome that these two get.”
Shortly before LaxCon 2018, Chaudry suggested a new show idea: TLN Top Five, in which Kaminski would break down and introduce the top five highlight clips submitted by fans. A week later, he filmed the first video in New York City and continued every week thereafter, carving out his own on-camera identity. To establish a personal rapport with his viewers, Kaminski spent two long nights writing roughly 500 handwritten letters to every person who commented on one of his videos.
While building a relationship with his TLN audience, Kaminski also formed connections with many of the world’s best players, including PLL co-founder Paul Rabil. In 2019, Kaminski left TLN to join the PLL as a host and creator. Kaminski expanded his audience, becoming the conduit between the world’s best players and passionate PLL fans.
“From day one, I’ve just been myself. That comes with me burping on camera with the guys, chugging beers with the winning team in the locker room, chugging out of the trophy at the end of the season,” he said. “There’s no one that I’m pretending to be.”
RJ Kaminski, left, poses with attackman Matt Rambo after the Whipsnakes won the inaugural PLL championship in 2019 in Philadelphia. (Sam Brettschneider/Courtesy photo)
Through his vlogs on the PLL YouTube, Kaminski captures the league’s ethos. He gives viewers an inside look that can’t be replicated in other sports. Steinhardt, then the PLL Director of Marketing, recalls sitting in an NBC Sports TV truck in 2019 and the director asking Kaminski to move away from fans because they were chanting his name too loud.
“He gets good access of what’s actually happening in the locker room, just the personalities of people in today’s game that makes you feel like you’re there,” Steinhardt, now the Chief Strategy Officer of Vocal Media said. “The reason young kids love him is because those kids who aspire to be those players and be on those stages get a glimpse of their future through him.”
Gaining that access relied on establishing trust with players. It happened immediately with some but took time with others. Kaminski has found that trust builds most through constructive conversation after tense moments.
“At the end of the day, if these guys don’t want to talk to someone, they’re not going to,” said Kyle Harrison, a former Johns Hopkins star and PLL player with the Redwoods, who’s now a PLL Assists board member. “To do his job, he has to have the trust of the players. You can lose a game, get scored on, get a bad penalty, you can get kicked out of the playoffs, lose your last game and be retired, but RJ can come talk to you.
“One, because his heart’s in the right place. Two, he’s going to ask thoughtful questions. Three, whatever he edits, he’s going to paint you in the best light.”
What’s not shown is the hard work and sleepless nights needed to make those videos. In the league’s first five years, Kaminski edited his videos after shooting 12 hours of content. During those times, he slept only one to two hours a night.
All that hard work built added respect from the players. It also brought priceless moments of adoration from fans asking for autographs or selfies, or simply saying thank you.
“It’s so special to have a 10-year-old come up to you with their dad and just say, ‘Thank you,’” Kaminski said. “To have these interactions where people are telling me that it’s making them happy and it’s the No. 1 thing they look forward to when they get home from work or school after a PLL weekend is such a unique feeling. It made me feel a mix of gratitude. It made me feel cool, walk with a little extra swagger in my step knowing that there are people out there that are fans of mine and supportive of the work that I’m doing.”
Kaminski takes great pride in the personal touch points the league’s built with its fan base. That fan base is expanding as PLL highlights are becoming more common on mainstream media platforms. Those moments are a reminder of how far the league has come but also serve as motivation to pursue further growth.
“It’s a really cool feeling seeing the dent we’ve made in exposing people to this game who otherwise wouldn’t have experienced it on their own,” Kaminski said. “But that being said, it really just is a dent. We have so much more work to do with our endemic fans and of course the general public.”
Originally Published: August 8, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.
