What I have learned in soccer and financial planning

Soccer or football has become a passion for me after rediscovering them again in 2010. I haven’t played a big 11-game tournament after dropping out of high school and going on to college over a decade ago. In addition to running and badminton, this sport has recently become my go-to to relieve stress, renew motivation to exercise and get fit, and meet up with old and new friends who also shared the same passion.

I learned to play the sport at age 11 in the early 1990s. It was a fun time to learn the basics of soccer. In the countries where soccer is played, learning the sport at 11 is already old, but I started to pick it up at that age and stayed away from playing basketball at this time and became one of the European soccer fans. (from Dutch and Italian Serie A) and recently with the English Premier League, the Spanish League, the German Bundesliga and our own United Football League Philippines.

In the last two years, the sport has won a crowd of fans from all walks of life after that faithful and triumphant battle in the semi-finals of the 2010 Suzuki AFF Cup. It has become an exciting sport after seeing in action to the Philippine National Soccer Team – Senior Division, also known as the Azkals of the Philippines. The Azkals made a break in this tournament giving glory to our country. Reaching the semifinals brought great hope and a bright future for the Philippine soccer scene. In March 2012, the Azkals won the bronze medal in a tough match against Palestine at the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup in Kathmandu, Nepal. Although there are many problems surrounding the players, they have still shown that they are proud, pure-blood or mixed-race Filipinos.

With renewed interest in playing the sport again, we started a small Football Association (FA) club made up of boys with an equal interest in playing recreational and competitive soccer. We organize this club with the interest of spreading the grassroots development program in our area and, at the same time, playing together as a team, competing in a 7-match tournament in Metro Manila or playing 11-match friendly matches with other clubs within or near our area and represent our community in the province.

As one of the founding members and one of the members of the management staff, it involves a great task of managing and organizing people, finances, training, teams and sometimes coaching the players, etc. Here, too, all the principles of personal financial planning can be applied.

Training the players

It involves many routine exercises, from running, handling the ball, building skills, and more. It sure takes a lot of discipline to get to the top of your performance and become one of the best players, as most coaches will tell you and make you do when you play this tough sport like soccer, which is very competitive. It took us time to remember the old instincts plus the muscle memory of playing again.

As in soccer, you must learn to save, instill the discipline of not overspending, and lock in a certain amount of your money by budgeting and spending control. Although, saving money is difficult for others, but once you save at least a part of your money (10%), this could be a small step, then you can go to higher amounts. Motivate yourself to save money and invest in the future to reach your goal in life.

Keeping the club

Currently, we do not have corporate sponsors or affiliation with a local sports organization or local government unit that can help us further strengthen the team. All players and staff are setting aside a small portion of their own money and pooling it into a trust fund should the event arise that we have to pay registration fees, transportation fees, and other expenses that may be incurred. future events and tournaments. in Metro Manila or anywhere else outside of our province.

From a financial planning perspective, the discipline of reserving for emergencies or a contingency plan should the need arise to use the fund can be helpful. At least the cash needed for this could be up to 6 months to a year in case of losing a job or looking for work etc. Organizing how you spend and lifestyle change could help you do more in saving enough funds for major future purchases for a future home, car, dream vacation abroad, or even retirement.

Marketing of products

We developed this bold plan of marketing our team’s jersey brand and marketing it at a nearby local state university to create positive cash flow into the club’s coffers. It was noted among college student buyers and local soccer fans who are friends of ours and supporters of our team through the use of social media and also word of mouth. We invest a portion of our personal money to sell and rotate the profits in order to create more products and services, as long as the demand continues, in return we continue with a 10% profit share from the team members who invested in this plan.

Learning and discovering the business side of running a small business part-time or full-time could help you develop business skills and probably earn more cash. A business venture like retail could be great and could give you first-hand experience to venture further into a more lucrative business if you take the risks at the same time that your return on earnings can break even, low or higher. Seizing the opportunity to win on the wing does not call twice. It only comes once in a lifetime. If it comes to your front door, grab it.

Set a time frame and a goal

From a coach’s perspective in soccer training and practice, you should establish a training time frame, especially when preparing for a competition or tournament. Like most athletes, they tend to practice and do routine exercises to keep them optimistic when facing the challenge against other competing teams in which their objective is to reach the final, win and settle the champions cup or gold medals for players. individual and have the bragging rights of winning the trophy of being the best.

The purpose of setting a realistic goal is the beginning of making a good financial plan in which you establish a time or schedule about the dream you want to achieve when buying a car, a house and capitalizing a business in the future. In hindsight, you will be motivated to achieve this by sacrificing a lot to achieve your goals, desires, and wishes. Remember, dreaming is free but there are deadlines if you want it to happen now.

Paying it forward

The team practices in a nearby sports complex and we always see that children from poor families look at us but it turns out that they want to play or kick balls. It was a worthwhile, self-fulfilling experience as you teach a 7-year-old how to kick the ball, how to run fast, and hit the ball off the goalpost. You shared something of yourself by sharing your knowledge of the sport. About 12-15 children of different ages, 8-14 years old, would watch us when we arrived in the late afternoon to practice and try to learn as much as possible about how to play soccer. Perhaps one of these days we can discover the future Pelé, Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldhino, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi (the great names or current legends of football / soccer, just to name a few) among them. boys or girls.

To sum it all up, personal finance requires skills, motivation, and the strict discipline of saving on your personal production and cash flow inflows and setting realistic goals to achieve that dream of yours through proper management and application of the knowledge gained to drawing on the experience and books and advice of a financial planner could help and support you at all times as your personal trainer.

In soccer, I never expected to be part of a young and upstart soccer club in our community and it was an honor and a privilege to be part of the core group and management of this local team, Futboleros United Club, in which I am one. of the founding members. Working and playing with these guys totally earned my respect as I see their dedication and fighting spirit in the midst of winning or losing a game. It is a valuable learning experience for me to be part of this team.

“NEVER GO THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT GOALS”