A Big Leap to Experience European Football

Taking the leap to European football is the ultimate dream for most kids all over the world. Not only because how well football is played there, but also the image that has been portrayed by the media of how glamorous European football is. I’m included among those kids, acknowledging how great it is to be able to play in Europe someday.

Disagreement with Parents

At this point, I have just finished high school in my hometown and like most parents they want me to go to university. This is where the story gets interesting. Both of my parents were aware I really enjoy playing football. They had seen how I train and progress throughout the years. Although they didn’t really watch me play though, they know from the way I would spent my time with the football at my feet.

Days gone to weeks and months, yet I had not decided where to go for university. I can clearly remember that I would always argue with my dad about it, because I insisted to carry on playing. But how could I expect back then, I was just a teenager and my opinions are just opinions for him. He did not consider me playing football as a career especially coming from the place where I was at.

Bear in mind, I was just training with a local team and on my own just to keep myself fit for the next opportunity. At the same time, I was researching for university that has a great football pathway in Europe. I was aware about college soccer in the US, but I just knew I did not want to stay 4 years at university along with other cons that I was contemplating. The other options were also going to a private academy in Europe that offers university education alongside it.

Unexpected Breakthrough

I kept researching until one day I found this Spanish academy that has a lot of my fellow countrymen in it. Later that evening, I came up to my dad and discussed this opportunity, however this academy did not university education. What surprised me until this day, he said “Ok I let you do this, but you must go to university the year after”. In my heart, I went “dang, what’s going on with this guy”. But I said to him, “yeah deal”.

I strongly believed that my perseverance and resilience of continuously training and playing changed his mind. I didn’t just talking of what I wanted, but I do the talking alongside giving him justification of why I want to pursue this career path. The next day, I contacted the academy’s sporting director and the good news was they are planning to go to Indonesia that summer.

A few weeks later, my father and I sat on a plane heading to Jakarta to meet the academy management team. The meeting was quite short and simple really, they laid out all the details and explain things that I can expect once I am there. Soon after, in the hotel room, my dad just handed all the decision to me. He was willing to support me and it was totally up to me. I thought to myself, “Man it’s like a dream come true, I can’t believe what was happening”.

Long story short, I emailed the management the week after, they got back to me with documents to sign stating all the agreements that I needed to adhere. Fast forward, in September 2018, I flew to Valencia, Spain by myself and interestingly it was my very first time travelling internationally alone. Off I go to make the leap to European football!

Finding My Stance

Since Spain is on the other side of the world of my country, I arrived the day after. A warm welcomed from the boys I was going to spend 9 months with. I had two days rest after my flight and straight back into training with the other players. The overall quality of the players were unsurprisingly better, they’ve got better techniques and physiques. Fortunately, I wasn’t struggling like I used to as I came prepared. A typical day for me back then was mainly training in the morning and evening, gym sessions, and since I came with a student visa, I was studying Spanish language to compensate that.

What I had noticed also was the speed of play was much quicker. I honestly left behind on this area as I wasn’t get used to the level yet. I vividly remember I gave the ball away cheaply and anxiety creeped into my head, not wanting to make another mistake. Thankfully I have got a great environment amongst the academy players, they would encouraged me to keep going and not to dwell on those mistakes.

A couple months went by, I had made my European football debut with the academy in an unusual position as a centre back. Although I performed quite well, I didn’t feel comfortable playing there. Beside playing for the academy, they would put us in a regional team that plays in Spanish federation league to get more minutes.

In December 2018, made my debut for the regional team with a humbling defeat, coming from the bench as a full-back this time. This is where I believe full-back is the position that I need to stick to. I felt comfortable both tactically and on the ball as well. Since then, I’ve always been put there by the manager.

Avoiding Relegation

The regional team that I played for was not the best. We were one of the bottom leagues team, and literally treated every game as if it was a final because football means business. Every time. I actually learnt a lot, being in that situation and gaining a lot more perspective towards the game. It has taught me to be focus on the tasks at hand, which I think it’s very underrated in football. You lost the game if you can’t engaged your mind to it.

Even though I was put in my preferred position, I realised I wasn’t the best player either on my team. I was just this average player and was afraid to take risks. What worse was I haven’t spoken Spanish yet at that time, so I was trying to understand what the manager was saying the best as I could.

Bear in mind, I had a lot of training sessions both with my regional team and the academy I was in. In a week, I would have 5-6 football sessions on top of gym sessions of 2-3 times. Since I knew I wasn’t the best, I had always trying to fit individual sessions in between. My technique was lacking so I would always go to a wall and do a session there. Just passing the ball against a wall with a lot of variations, in the air, on the ground. Boom, boom… Did that continuously for almost every week. Had always felt shattered every time I done that extra session, but I knew I was improving. So I kept on going.

Fast forwards to the end of the season, we had managed to secure our spot from the relegation. What a relieve, it felt like we had just won the league. Job done, I had made an impact for the team and also they have made me a much better player.

Learning Point

There were so many things I’ve learnt both on and off the pitch. I realised that it all starts with your mind, how you would approach something in front of you. Would you take charge and being responsible? Or would you run away and go back to your comfort zone? Hadn’t I took responsibility for my weaknesses, I would probably had gone back to my country and just blamed whoever or whatever there is for my own responsibility.

I knew football wise it wasn’t anything extraordinary, but this is just the part of the process. There is a long process involved to achieve greatness. It’s a stepping stone for me to bounce higher to the next level. Cause I heard, the football world is hands down cruel. It’s a dog eats dog world [shout out Matt Sheldon from Become Elite]. Like life in general, nobody is going to feel sorry for you. Instead, take charge and be responsible for your own good.

Stay tuned for my next blog post talking about what path I took to continue my footballing journey after finishing my time in a Spanish academy. Keep ballin’!