Hey there, Friend!
I hope you are having a great week and hitting your stride in the new year.
My week has been a bit overwhelming. Since I value self-honesty, I’m able to say that this is a difficult time in the (off)season as a free agent.
With so much uncertainty, it can get difficult to not focus only on that.
While I may be dealing with uncertainty in terms of which team I’ll be playing soccer for in 2020, I can rely on the team and community I’ve built though this personal email list and within Perfect Soccer.
So thank you for your continued commitment to this newsletter and community, I greatly value having you as a reader and hope you continue to find value in the things I share….
I know I’m always saying that it’s the team you build that will help you get where you want to go, and I was reminded of this lesson this week when I spoke with Eli Lesser on EP 057 of the #AskASoccerPro Show.
Eli has been an active member and vocal representative of the MSL and we’ve had a few 1 on 1 Mental Strength coaching sessions privately.
But more recently Eli discovered that ‘going pro’ is a whole lot harder than you would ever imagine and involves giving up a lot of the things you love about what you do.
His realization had me looking back over my own career and what it really meant to ‘go pro’ and what it actually took for me to make it to what will be year 12.
When You Go Pro…In Anything
The MSL is cross-platform. It, it’s not just specific to soccer players. Soccer happens to bring us together, but the MSL is able to address and overcome the problems we face, no matter what industry we are in.
One of the largest issues that we can face is losing passion and love of the game, regardless of whether that game is soccer, or something else.
I believe that one of the best ways to survive and ultimately thrive at the professional level of any game is to quickly come to the realization that a majority of what you must do to stick around long enough is to understand that you might need to sacrifice the things you love about what you do, before you’re actually wanting to do it.
Reflecting back on my career, this is what I’ve had to do a lot along the way to learn the lessons I’ve needed to continue to play the game.
Which seems backward if you think about it. Give up what you love, so you can get to continue doing what you love?
Yes.
When you go pro in soccer, you have to give up the reasons you may have been attracted to the game in the first place, to give yourself the time you need to mature and grow into your true potential.
Going pro means you no longer get to decide when you play, where you play, if you play, or who you play with.
All of a sudden, there are a lot more responsibilities attached to the game as well.
You have to show up to a certain number of practices per week, you’re beholden to your contract, organization, coaches, formations, playing style, teammates, fans, commentators…
Others, get to determine what you are and what you are or aren’t capable of.
Many of whom are ”qualified” to do so, simply because they have a title, not any actual understanding of what they’re doing or how to do it well.
People who don’t know you or who you are, see you just as a part in the machine, and treat you as such.
They’re not invested in you, but what they feel they can get from you.
Soccer becomes work.
The reality that what you love has become work is kind of a hard thing to come to terms with because the entire reason why you started playing the game is because you love it.
But, the unfortunate truth about professional sports or being at a professional level in your industry is that your passion and love for the game is a weakness and one that others can and will exploit.
If you’re naive and not aware of that and how your passion can be a weakness, it will negatively impact you over the long term if you don’t actively do the work to overcome it.
You will find yourself in some difficult situations, and you’ll learn that being naive was the reason you got yourself into that situation in the first place.
It becomes a question of, are you going to allow the system to kill your love for the game (life) slowly and eat you up and spit you out?
Or, are you going to kill the love for the game yourself (sacrifice) well before you have no choice?
Understanding that you’re going to utilize this extra time you’ll now have, to invest in creating a framework, a team, a network, a system that will allow you to no longer be naive, reclaim and earn your love?
You must be willing to let go to give yourself the opportunity to move forward.
#ASKASOCCERPRO
To listen to last week’s show with Eli Lesser of ‘This Week in MLS’, make sure you check out episode 57 of the #AskASoccerPro Show!
Check out what we covered:
- When You Go Pro…In Anything
- Learning to Fish
- Eli Lesser Joins the Live!
- A Unique Path
- Not Loving Every Moment
- Toxicity and Staying Positive
- Growth of the League
- Striking a Balance
- The Lowest Point
- What Was Missing
- Long Term Winner’s Mindset
YouTube: https://youtu.be/49W0wALT2yE
Blog: https://www.perfectsoccerskills.com/blogs/news/eli-lesser-on-going-pro-i-askasoccerpro-show-ep-057
Fresh Content
PS Clips
Toxicity and Staying Positive | PS Clips | #AskASoccerPro Show Ep. 057
When You Go Pro…In Anything | PS Clips | #AskASoccerPro Show Ep. 057
Not Loving Every Moment | PS Clips | #AskASoccerPro Show Ep. 057
A Unique Path | PS Clips | #AskASoccerPro Show Ep. 057
Eli Lesser Joins The Live! | PS Clips | #AskASoccerPro Show Ep. 057
Podcasts
Eli Lesser and Quincy on Doing What You Love | #AskASoccerPro Show Ep. 057
Akeem Ward | Perfect Soccer Podcast Ep.007
Articles
Mentally Preparing Yourself to Go Pro | #AskASoccerPro Show Ep. 057
Eli Lesser and Quincy on Doing What You Love | #AskASoccerPro Show Ep. 057
Hate it or Love it I Mini-Blog #AskASoccerPro Show
The N-Word I Mini-Blog #AskASoccerPro Show
What To Do When People Write You Off I Mini-Blog #AskASoccerPro Show
This Week On The #AskASoccerPro Show
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday when we go live at 6 pm PST/ 9 pm EST with the #AskASoccerPro Show over on Instagram.
I’ll be taking your questions and interviewing 1992 U.S. Olympic Team and the 1998 World Cup squad and current State Of The Union podcast host, Alexi Lalas!
Please be sure to join in and get your questions answered!
Please feel free to shoot me an email if you have any thoughts or feedback
Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday!
Until next week,
Quincy
Mental Strength Coach
MSL – Mental Strength League
www.QuincyAmarikwa.com/About
