Can I become an ambassador without doing a collab first?

No, and that works in your favour. At Sunday Squad every ambassador comes out of a round: a collab, or round 1 of a programme a brand starts directly. In both cases you apply, you get matched, and only after the posting window do you see whether the brand wants to continue with you. Nobody becomes an ambassador on an application.

Elsewhere it works differently. A brand-owned club picks you on your profile, up front, often on gut feeling; an agency picks you on your followers. That sounds faster, but it means you're chosen on what you seem, and that's exactly where the doubt comes from with brands that stop later. Whoever is chosen on what they did has nothing left to prove.

Practically: register, apply for a collab that fits your sport, and deliver. Whoever used the product during that round, posted on time and fit the brand is first in line when the brand starts Sunday Squad Ambassadors. That's the whole path, and it's shorter than it looks: from application to first round takes eight weeks. How to become a sportfluencer with Sunday Squad, and whether you have a better chance if you've done a collab before.