Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes

Where sports & creativity collide | Stories of athletes, creators & entrepreneurs | Building what’s next after the game | League leader in high fives

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

I absolutely love that Poch looks like he’s gonna fix my carburetor #usmnt

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

Greatest team on earth??? #usmnt

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

“Outputs and results are just a trailing indicator of what you put in.”

In May, I doubled my video output.

It led to my second biggest month of Shorts views, my biggest month ever on TikTok, AND I finally launched on Instagram.

Just need to keep plugging away.

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

With Q1 in the books I wanted to take a look at my numbers to see if there's anything I could learn

I forget where I originally heard it, but I saw someone say that they only measure inputs, because that's what you can control.

Outputs and results are just a trailing indicator of what you put in.

My biggest takeaway from this chart is that I need to up my inputs.

More tweets.
More interviews.
More short-form content.
Maybe add Instagram Reels?

Gotta increase my surface area of where people can discover what I'm building.

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

Get your eyes on the latest episode with Because Football here: https://t.co/KtxP8eR3jZ

The man is chasing down a visit to all 16 World Cup cities.

Some might say he’s living the dream

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

6/6 on new monthly YouTube videos

This month features the legend Andrew Baggaley from @BecauseFtbl

In an effort to get a little better with every upload here’s what I optimized:

• Did a self-promotional “hey take a second to subscribe” ad read drawing inspo from @jayclouse and @StevenBartlett

• Updated the intro to feel like an old SportsCenter show opener

• Used some enhanced video feature in Riverside with my webcam for more of a studio quality look (basically just looks like I’m wearing makeup which idk if that’s good or bad)

Still a lot to improve on, but we keep chipping away 🫡

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

Promised myself I'd drop a new YouTube video on the 3rd of every month in 2026.

5/5 so far.

I can confidently say this is my best episode to date.

Changes I made from last month as we keep trying to experiment and get better with every video:

- Perfect guest. Interviewed Ben Chehebar, founder of Eleven Football. Exact mix I'm looking for of entrepreneur and athlete.

- Created an intro hook song with Suno AI. It's not perfect, but makes the upfront feel way more dynamic.

- Used a lav mic for all the cut-in segments. Sound quality is significantly improved.

- Brought back "Blind Rankings" segment. Great addition. Honestly need more segments like this.

- Borrowed inspiration from the old SportsCenter intros to tee up the show. With a little tweaking I think this could be the move.

- Built AI into my workflow to design the thumbnail. Getting closer to the design direction I want.

A lot to still work on, but let's keep chipping away 🫡

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

@JayHoovy WAITLIST

[Paddy Galloway @PaddyG96]

Announcement:

I’m looking for 100 new YouTube channels to implement our latest growth strategies with. 🎉

After 9 sold-out cohorts, we're opening applications to cohort 10 of my YouTube Accelerator.

We find talented creators and implement my full growth playbook with them.

We've taken channels from 1k views a video to 500k+

From $100/month to $10,000/month (within months)

We have even had multiple creators make 5m+ view videos DURING the cohorts.

This is going to be our best cohort yet… we’ve spent years fine tuning what we deliver:

- 8 week intense group coaching program focused on results
- 30+ hours of fully refreshed live training from me
- Our complete AI operating system for YouTube
- Personalized strategy help and feedback
- 24/7 live community to support

One of the biggest pieces of feedback we get from students is we undersell how much work we put in lol.

If you want to see if you're a fit... apply below (we will literally review within days!)

If you have applied before and not been accepted, don’t be discouraged.

We've even had someone who applied 5+ times and then finally got in.

And also f**k it... we're making this a reoccurring thing:

One person who likes and RT this tweet will get a 100% paid for scholarship (worth thousands).

Fully taken care for by me. ❤️

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

@MaxNPalmer Yooooooooooo 👀

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

My guy cooked

[Rodger Sherman @rodger]

Shrey spelling 32 words in 90 seconds to win the Spelling Bee is the new greatest athletic accomplishment of 2026. I don’t even know how he said the letters that fast. Got a “Holy Mackerel” out of
@minakimes

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

@sporadica EEEEasiest money of all time

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

@zachpogrob Working on it. It makes no sense to anyone but me yet, but working on it

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

@kanekallaway You wanna party with sports x creativity?

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

Keep chipping away 🫡

[Luke O'Nien @LukeONien]

EUROPA LEAGUE was never the dream.

Not because I didn’t want it.

Because if I’m being honest, I never thought it was possible.

What kid would?

Especially when 12 years ago I was playing non league football in the Ryman Premier and Conference South, just trying to stay alive in the game.

What kid dreams about Europe when, two weeks into the off season, his dad has to tell him he’s been released by Watford F.C. over the phone?

I was heartbroken.

My dad looked at me and said:

“What are we doing tomorrow?”

To which I replied with the words he’d drilled into me my whole life:

“We’re training, Dad.”

So we trained.

Every single day.

My dad emailed every EFL club asking for an opportunity.

One club replied.

One.

That was all I needed.

An opportunity.

@WealdstoneFC and @wwfcofficial , I’ll always be indebted to you.

Then came the move to @SunderlandAFC .

A massive club.

A massive opportunity.

And I couldn’t wait to prove myself.

But 45 minutes into my debut… hooked.

“Rabbit caught in headlights. Waste of money. Get rid.”

Then came the Championship.

“He’s not good enough for this level.”

Then the Premier League.

“Let’s give him a debut and then get rid of him.”

I understood the doubt.

I’ve faced it my whole career.

And truthfully, you doubt yourself too at times.

But I’ve always tried to live by one mindset:

Outwork your doubt.

You don’t always need to see the full journey.

You just need to take the next step.

Then the next one.

And then another.

Even when social media tells you you’re not good enough.

Even when the voice inside your own head whispers the same thing.

Keep working.

Keep learning.

Keep showing up.

Because sometimes the places you end up are bigger than anything your younger self could’ve ever imagined.

To any young player reading this, don’t put a ceiling on yourself too early.

You genuinely have no idea where this game and life can take you.

And to the boys… thank you.

You removed the glass ceiling I’d placed on myself.

What a team.

What a club.

What a fanbase.

Sunderland… rocking all over Europe ❤️🤍

And in the words of Granit Xhaka:

“This is just the beginning.”

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

You can say hey anywhere, but YouTube will be my home base.

You can check out what Halftime Heroes is doing over there: https://t.co/3JYtbtJS1f

Let's chip away 🫡

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

I haven't been this excited about a project in a LONG time

(and this carousel of images took me wayyyyy too long to make)

The rest of this thread is why I genuinely believe I'm the right guy to help make former and current athletes unleash their creativity 👇👇👇 (1/10)

[Ryan Dunn | Halftime Heroes @TeamHalftime]

So if this all sounds like something you might be interested in, pop in and say hey

I'm looking for athletes, creators, and sports fans to keep growing this thing with.