Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
The next 4 Day In The Life videos will go live in May! College soccer players from Stanford, Washington, Butler, and Santa Barbara will show you a glimpse into their daily lives as student/athletes competing at the highest level of the NCAA. More videos to come this summer đŻâ˝
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Football has a funny way of presenting us with opportunities when we least expect them. We often find ourselves waiting for the perfect moment, the right time to pursue our professional dreams, to make a change, or to take that leap of faith.
But what if I told you that waiting for the right time is just an illusion? That the perfect moment may never come unless you create it yourself.
I used to be a chronic wait-for-the-right-time player. I had dreams and aspirations, but I always found fucking excuses to postpone taking action. Whether it was starting a business, attending a combine, or even speaking up for what I believed in on YouTube, I convinced myself that the stars had to align perfectly for me to move forward.
I believed I needed more experience, more money, or the elusive "right moment" to manifest itself. But the truth is, the right time rarely presents itself in football. Itâs the players who seize it who become idols to those who merely wait.
One pivotal moment in my life made me realize the futility of waiting. I had a burning desire to start a channel on YouTube. I had a passion for capturing moments and telling stories through a camera, but I always found reasons not to start. I told myself I needed better equipment, more confidence and a better marketing plan. It took me 3 years to buy my first camera and start sharing my journey.
For 22 years I only made changes only when it was convenient⌠When I was backed into a corner where the only way out was forward. Itâs the days you donât feel like working that lead to the outcome youâre truly desiring.
The truth is, the right time will never come unless you actively create it. Football is full of uncertainties, and waiting for the stars to align perfectly is an exercise in futility.
Doing the obvious thing for an extraordinarily long period of time without convincing yourself that youâre smarter than you are will be the story of your career for a lot of you young footballers.
Waiting for the right moment is like waiting for a train that may never arrive. Itâs a self-imposed barrier that will hold you back your entire career and prohibit you from reaching your full potential.
Show up today. Not tomorrow, not the next day⌠Today.
Many years from now you'll look back on your career and realize this was the best decision you ever made for your future self.
Time isn't waiting for you.
78 - 2
The unfortunate reality for many young footballers in 2023 is being good enough is only a fraction of what it takes to sign a contract.
The formula I followed to sign my first professional contract in 2020 was:
Luck + preparation = seized opportunities
I treated football as a numbers game and recognized I needed to network with the right people if I ever wanted a chance of achieving my dream.
From an outsider looking in, success to me was merely a phantom I was continuing to chase to make life more meaningful and enjoyable.
Even though after college I was failing spectacularly in many different ways (football, relationships, income, mental health), the genuine happiness from partaking in the journey to reach my desired outcome resulted in some of the best years of my life.
Financially broke, physically beaten down and mentally clocked out, the years from amateur to professional will rock you to your core, but it will in turn create the skill sets needed to make it in this game.
Whether you choose to accept the time horizon needed to obtain these skill sets is dependent on the player and person, but understand this, the skills needed to sign a contract and expertise to retain a contract are drastically different.
When I signed my first contract at 26 years old I was running on literal fumes.
The journey from graduating college to playing professional football lasted 27 months.
I lived in 4 cities, spent $15,000+ traveling to tryouts/open events, got scammed multiple times by agencies/combines and tore/fractured multiple different muscles/bones.
My mental fortitude was definitely lacking during this point of my career, but the truth of the matter is I was exhaustedâŚ
By the time the stars aligned for me and I was able to find a professional team to play for, I had less than $500 in my bank account and was on the verge of homelessness.
Among many other things, the lack of money I was making from my first professional club drove me to look for other options for the 2021 season.
The honest truth was I couldnât afford to play professional football.
Whether youâre playing this game for recreational purposes or have aspirations of making it to the highest level, the financial burden of playing football will have a larger impact on you than you can imagine.
The boots you wear, the amateur club you decide to play for, the combines you attend, the personal training needed to guide you through the correct positioning/form is all correlated to your monthly income.
Your lack of understanding of how to make money will kill your football dreams faster than your lack of football skills will.
Let that sink in for a secondâŚ
If you donât have the financial means and mental fortitude to spend without the expectation of receiving, your journey will end faster than it began.
The pain I felt struggling to pay rent while trying to perform consistently on the pitch was some of the most difficult years of my life.
Fast forward 3 years and the days of being broke are a distant memory, but the regret of not being able to figure out my income quicker still lingers to this day.
Last month I had the privilege of being able to buy my first supercar at 29 years old. A dream come true?
YesâŚ
But the person I had to become to drag my time horizon by the balls to the present and be able to afford this car is the same person who drove DoorDash to pay for his rent not so long ago.
The person you are today is not the same individual needed to get to where you want to beâŚ
What are you willing to sacrifice to afford the change needed to achieve your dream?
Although making money after football may always seem like an available option to you, the skill sets needed to attend combines/tryouts without the cost of financial hardship will be more difficult to obtain than actually signing a professional contract, for some of you.
Whether you decide to start your journey to financial freedom today or not is your own business, but if you eventually let the lack of money stop you from pursuing your dream then let this article serve as a stark reminder that you have only yourself to blame when your account hits $0.
The ultimate weapon in business as in football is speedâŚ
Speed is everything.
All else being equal, the fastest company to adapt and the fastest player to overcome will always win.
Without a sense of urgency, the desire to continue working will eventually lose its value.
129 - 9
I firmly believe the majority of success in football can be boiled down to the experiences we undergo in our teenage years.
If you're between the ages of 14-19 years old, youâre most likely living in the moment; naive to the impact your decisions will have on your future self.
You have difficulty envisioning a life where there is anything but prosperity, success and material abundance.
You envision, you think, you dream, but the actions required to possess a 1% career are fleeting at best.
Letâs rewind to a 13-year old Spencer who was watching the 2008 Olympics convincing himself he was going to be playing in the 2012 London games. The fans, stadiums, the competition were all that mattered.
Delusion⌠Yes, I agree with you.
But driven by the unknown and motivated to become someone who I didnât yet deserve to be.
Blind ignorance, sure, but letâs be clearâŚ
They say there are 2 ways to be fooled in this game. One is to believe what isnât true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.
However, I propose a third⌠Doing something everyday that has proven to be true for another player, and believing it will lead to the same outcome for you in the future.
No path is the same, no single journey leads to the same destination for all.
Fast forward 3 years and I convinced myself if I trained 5 days a week, made the right connections, marketed myself appropriately, I would somehow find myself on a professional team after high school.
Doing the same thing(s) that resulted in the success of another individual and assuming the same outcome for yourself only makes the climb more painful when you fall from your glass throne.
At 19-years old I had just left my first college program, failed to make a transfer over the summer and found myself back home in Florida for 6 months to figure out where my football career stood.
I believe we all have conversations in our teenage years that change everything for usâŚ
Whether you choose to recognize them at the time or not is irrelevant as they will inevitably have a strong impact on your career in the years to come.
I have always had differences with my parents, specifically in the years following high school graduation.
Although our opinions regarding success, football, religion and wealth creation are very different even to this day, the respect for each other is now mutual.
On August 12th, 2014 my father told me something that would fundamentally alter the reasons why I continued playing football.
The conversation ended with, "You're going fucking nowhere in life⌠You're going to to be a nobody and you have no future in football."
In one conversation the reason for playing completely switched⌠It went from outside entities controlling my motivation, to internal affliction laying the foundation for purpose and reason again.
Although hate can only fuel the fire temporarily, it allows for the logical evaluation of why youâre continuing to pursue a dream where 99% of those who try end up failing.
Remembering why you still play this game, why you still decide to put on the boots even after dozens of rejections, countless injuries and years of blood, sweat and tears, will allow you the longevity to pursue your goal regardless of what this game may throw your way.
The goal shouldn't be to play at the highest level possibleâŚ
The goal should be to play for the right reasons, for as long as possible.
117 - 5
What would you say is the hardest thing about pursuing a professional football contract?
The competition, physical demands, mental toughness, financial constraints, injuries or maybe the limited opportunities?
For the majority of footballers, there is not a single constraint that will lead to your success or downfall in this game.
It will most likely be the ladder.
However, from my experience, there is one factor that is not spoken about enoughâŚ
What inevitably caused a downward trajectory in my own career was information overload.
I tried to maximize every opportunity in America and abroad.
I attended combines.
I drove to open tryouts.
I flew to European showcases.
I played in 2 different college leagues.
I played in 3 different semi professional leagues.
I spent hundreds of hours marketing myself online.
There are 1001 different ways to sign a professional contract, but it only takes 1 to change your life forever.
For many years after college I was distracted by the bright lights and fancy marketing campaigns of agencies, combines, open events and European tours.
This is your LAST resort if all else failsâŚ
Donât allow yourself to get to this point in your career.
EVERY opportunity has the potential to take you to the next level.
But NOTHING will work if youâre trying to do everything.
Youâre going to have to pickâŚ
You have to decide and commit to it.
90% of success in football can be boiled down to consistently doing the obvious thing for an uncommonly long period of time without convincing yourself that you're smarter than you are.
Do the obvious thing in 2023.
Stay committed to your decision, but stay flexible in your approach.
Adapt, adjust and overcome.
This year will be yours.
113 - 1
Seriously contemplating on returning to vlogging the football journey. Should the vlogs resume in 2023? Let me know your thoughts â˝
13 - 6
Thank you to âŞ@gcu⏠for collaborating on the newest day in the life video! It will be released at 11am PST tomorrowâ˝ď¸ #GCU
71 - 4
Serious question: Would you rather be a 35 year old professional with dozens of accolades and awards to his name?
Or an 18 year old who hasn't signed his first contract and is struggling to fund his dream of playing professionally?
I would trade everything I have accumulated over the last 17 years (wealth, status, material possessions, professional career) to be 18 again.
The truth behind this question is you would trade everything you have to be EXACTLY where you are at right now.
It puts into perspective the levels of gratitude we have at our disposal.
20 - 3
For the past couple of months the concept of time has been on my mind.
When I think about it, my experience of time while going though football and playing this game reminds me of a car rolling down a hill and jumping off a cliff.
Let me explainâŚ
When I kicked my first football, life was moving extremely slow.
Days seemed like weeks, weeks seemed like months.
When weâre young we think very little of time.
As our career progresses, time steady increases.
In the sense of the car metaphor: After slowly starting to roll it became faster and faster, heading towards the end of the cliff.
Once we reach the ramp to jump into the unknown, very few of us make the leap.
Either because the fear of failure...
Self-doubt, staying in our comfort zoneâŚ
Or assuming time is on our side.
As your football career progresses, the more youâll realize time isnât on your side.
Many of us have yet to hit that critical moment when we look back and realize thereâs more time behind us than there will ever be in front of us in this game.
Itâs the deceiving, silent enemy in your career that you can either learn to control or give in to.
However you decide to treat it, just know itâs never on your side.
Donât lose this game because you fail to recognize the true value of your time.
This is YOUR career and the clock is ticking.
â˝â
126 - 3
At what point in a footballers career should they give up their dream of playing professional football? Maybe a controversial answer, but I donât think you should hang up the boots if youâre sub 28/yo and are not being severely financially impacted by still chasing a contract.
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Inspiring The Next Generation of Footballers.