Soccer has become a passion for me after rediscovering it again in 2010. I haven’t played a major 11-player tournament since leaving high school and going on to college over a decade ago. Besides running and badminton, this sport has recently become my go-to to relieve stress, renew motivation to exercise and stay fit, and meet up with old and new friends who also share the same passion.
I learned to play the sport at the age of 11 in the early 1990s. It was a fun time learning the basics of soccer. In countries where football is played, learning the sport at 11 years old is already old, but I started learning it at that age and stayed away from playing basketball at this time and became one of the European football fans. (from the Dutch and Italian Serie A) and recently. with the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga and our own United Football League Philippines.
Over the past two years, this sport has won overcrowds of fans from all walks of life after that faithful and triumphant battle in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup Semi-Finals. the Philippine National Soccer Team – Senior Division, also known as the Philippine Azkals. The Azkals were unleashed in this tournament giving glory to our country. Reaching the semi-finals brought great hope and a bright future for the Philippine soccer scene. Last 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 issues surrounding the players, they have shown that they are proud Filipinos: pure or mixed blood.
With a renewed interest in playing the sport again, we started a small Football Association (FA) club made up of lads with an equal interest in playing recreational and competitive football. We organized this club in 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-player tournament in Metro Manila or playing 11-player friendly matches with other clubs within or near our area and represent our community in the province.
As one of the founding members and a member of the management staff, it involves a lot of management and organization of people, finances, coaching, teams and sometimes coaching the players etc. All the principles of personal financial planning can be applied here as well.
Training the players
It involves many routine exercises from running, ball handling, skill building and others. It sure takes a lot of discipline to reach the peak 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 time for us to remember the old instincts plus the muscle memory to play again.
Just like soccer, you need to learn to save, instill the discipline of not overspending, and set a certain amount for your money by budgeting and tracking spending. 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 for the future in reaching one’s goal in life.
club maintenance
We currently have no 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 in case we have to pay entry fees, transportation fees, and other expenses that may be incurred at future events and tournaments. in Metro Manila or anywhere outside of our province.
From a financial planning perspective, the discipline of setting aside for emergencies or contingency planning if the need to use the fund arises could be helpful. At least the cash needed for this could last up to 6 months to a year in case you lose a job or look for a job etc. Organizing the way you spend and changing your lifestyle could help you achieve more in saving enough funds for future major purchases for a future home, car, dream vacation abroad, or even retirement.
merchandise merchandising
We came up with this bold plan to market our team’s branded jersey and market it at a local state university nearby to create positive cash flow in the club’s coffers. It was noticed among the buyers of local college students and soccer fans who are friends of ours and supporters of our team through the use of social media and also by word of mouth. We invest a portion of our personal money in selling and rotate the profits to create more products and services, as long as the demand is still there. In return, we continue to receive 10% profit sharing from team members who invested in this plan.
Learning and discovering the business side of running a small business full or part time could help you develop business skills and probably earn more money. A business venture like retail could be great and could give you first hand experience venturing further into a more lucrative business if you take the risks while the return on profits can be fair, low or high. Taking the opportunity to win on the side does not strike twice. It only comes once in a lifetime. If it comes to your door, grab it.
Set a time frame and goal
From a coach’s perspective in soccer training and practice, you need to set a training time frame, especially when preparing for a competition or tournament. Like most athletes, they tend to practice and do routine exercises to stay optimistic when facing the challenge against other competing teams where their goal is to reach the final, win and set a champions cup or player gold medals. singles and have the bragging rights of winning the trophy of being the best.
The purpose of establishing a realistic goal is the beginning of making a good financial plan in which you establish a time or schedule in the dream that you want to achieve to buy a car, a house and capitalize a business in the future. In retrospect, you will be motivated to achieve this by sacrificing a lot to achieve your goals, desires, and longings. Remember, dreaming is free but there are deadlines if you want it to happen now.
paying it forward
The team practices at a nearby sports complex and we always see children from poor families who look at us but it turns out that they want to play or kick the ball. It was a valuable and rewarding experience when you teach a 7 year old how to kick the ball, how to run fast and hit the ball into the goal post. You shared something of yourself by sharing your knowledge about this sport. About 12-15 kids of different ages, from 8 to 14 years old, would watch us when we came to practice in the late afternoon and try to learn as much as possible about how to play soccer. Perhaps one of these days we will be able to discover the future Pelé, Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldhino, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi (the great names or legends of current football, to name a few) among some of these. 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 applying knowledge gained from experience. and the books and advice of a financial planner could help and support you at all times like your personal coach.
In soccer, I never expected to be a part of a young, upstart soccer club in our community and it was an honor and privilege to be part of the core group and management of this local team, Futboleros United Club, of which I am one. of the founding members. Working and playing with these guys totally earned my respect for them 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 a part of this team.
“NEVER GO THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT GOALS”