Road Map to a Successful Football Career (Author Interview)




Road Map to a Successful Football Career looks like a great book.  What can you tell us about it?

As it is often said that your life trials either bring out the best or the worst in you, the book was born out of my own personal struggles as an entrepreneur who started out with a burning passion for the beautiful game as it is called but I got knocked many times by mistakes. I decided in 2012 to find a way in sharing my experience as a football administrator with the world, I felt the best way it can be done is through a book and that was when I started putting together information through my own personal travails of trying to help young kids that are in love with the game just like me and are looking to make a career out of it. I had no idea it will take this long before it will be completed but I am glad it did. 

Road Map to a Successful Football Career is a step by step guide for aspiring football (soccer) players looking for how to make their dreams of making it to the professional level a reality. It is an ideal roadmap for prospects that are serious about football; this book is a great way for children as young as seven, teenagers, and parents to get introduced to the sport and culture surrounding it.

I’ve had the privilege of watching thousands of individuals start training as children and go on to play for clubs, colleges, and professional teams all across the world. In my experience there are very predictable and consistent ways that motivated players can succeed, and this and many more are what I shared in the book.

In this book you’ll find:
Attributes of good football players and how you can become one

 How to find college and university scholarships
Best methods for acing a university-level team tryout
How to find talent scouts
Guide to playing overseas at the youth and adult levels
How to directly contact major football clubs
Guidelines for successful training regimens at any level
The qualities of a good agent

The path to a life of professional soccer can be exciting, but it also comes with its pitfalls. As you read through the book, I outline some of the things that could possibly derail your success. When you’re armed with knowledge, you’ll be able to focus on growing your talent and pursuing your passion.

The book shows you the pitfalls to watch out for, such as:
•How to spot an unethical or unqualified agent
•How to avoid being taken advantage of as a professional athlete
•Dangerous habits that can interfere with your training regimen


Anyone serious about going from an average hobbyist to a successful, elite-level footballer should own a copy of the book; it shows you a roadmap that nobody else is offering.

How long did it take you to write?

The book took eight (8) years of hard work and intense data gathering in finding out the true secret of what works for someone to go from just playing the game on the street or as a hobby to becoming an elite player that will go on to playing the game at the highest level.

Also how being a smart student in class with soccer talent can be an advantage in securing a scholarship at any college or institution of your choice in any part of the world. 




What inspired you when writing Road Map to a Successful Football Career?   

What inspired me to write the book is due to my experience as a broadcaster and football entrepreneur covering the game in the last 2 decades, I have had the opportunity to take players to professional trials in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Tunisia, and South Africa to mention a few. I see many young players falling into trap with unethical agents and money grabbers that have no interest in their career but just looking for fast way to make money by taking advantage of the most desperate player looking for shortest route in becoming a professional. This is the biggest pitfall for many athletes out there, looking for the shortest route and fast ways of achieving success.

I also get tons of emails from players all over the world asking if I was an agent and if I can help them to get a professional tryout opportunity or specifically mentioning of a top soccer club.

These kids have no idea that there is no magic way to making this happen except through some steps and going through a process. I feel oblige to do something about it because if I did not, more players will fall into this traps of being taking advantage of and their career will be cut short.

This was my biggest motivation in writing the book. Remember, I started working on this book since the year 2012 gathering data and specific information that works for anyone and anywhere regardless of location, sex or race if the steps are well followed and adhered to.

In 2014 while working on this book, I found out that an agent from Lebanon took advantage of the players that were training and looking to go for some professional trial games in my academy (Midas Football Academy) in Nigeria. This was a huge setback for me personally and I was disappointed that despite my experience in the business, someone can still take advantage of my own people who are depending on me for guidance to lead them on the right path. I decided to use this failure as a motivation to let out the secrets in this book and give it to millions of young people that will come across it.

Did anything stick out as particularly challenging when writing Road Map to a Successful Football Career?
As I previously mentioned, this book involve a real life experience of someone that lived and experienced what the challenge is, It is meant not just to solve a problem of young soccer athlete looking for direction and saving them from dangerous money grabbing individuals that tagged themselves as agents, scouts and fake club owners but to provide a solution on what needs to be done in making their ultimate desire a reality.

The book help parents and guardians who are the first to spot the talents in their ward on steps to take from as early as age 7 up to their teenage years when the career should either take off to a resounding success or be truncated by acknowledging things that should done and by doing them. It also help the players on what the first step towards deciding if they will be pursuing this career or not should be which is to be truthful to themselves. 



Can you tell us a little about your background?

I am a very passionate broadcast and football entrepreneur with experience in the areas of communications, television and radio production, digital marketing, sports events management and public speaking.

I am a member of the United States Soccer Referee and member of United Soccer Coaches. I am also a member of International Sports Press Association (AIPS) and hold a professional certificate in Football Business from the Football Business Academy in Geneva Switzerland.

I founded a football technology startup called Scoutballers Soccer Recruiting which is a marketplace for football video creators to showcase their athlete videos and upload stats in other for the players to get recruited by clubs and colleges. The platform helps professional clubs and college coaches to save cost by assessing talents needed for their clubs or college programs online. Soccer players and students looking for the next move in their career can use our platform to find a video creator in their city that will make a professionally accepted video profile of their games and upload on the platform to enable them search for opportunities.

I am also the founder of Midas Football Academy in Nigeria set up to discover, educate and develop young football players. I plan to build a 12 acre football facility where the players can combine vocational education and soccer to reach their full potential.

I have produced many football shows on television including LIMITLESS SOCCER a weekly magazine show that features highlights of top leagues in Europe and the U.S Major League Soccer, as well as RUSSIA ROUNDUP, a show that profiled all the 32 nations that participated at the 2018 FIFA WORLD CUP in Russia. I live in Houston Texas.




Where can readers find out more about your work? You can read more about my other works at www.bayonlearashi.com

No comments:

Post a Comment