Weekly Review 24th – 30th December 2012 [end of 2012, my year in review]

It’s the 31st of December and I’m in my Canberra room just chilling and thinking about what I can write about this year. Of course there are a heap of things to write about but it’s been hard for me to just sit down, think and write. The last week I’ve been snorlaxing. Still training of course, but I think my mind just wanted to shut down for a bit, so I played a full season of Fifa and spent time with family and friends.

I can really never predict what will happen in my life, but an adventure is what I love to live for. Life is an adventure. I said goodbye to Budapest, visited Thailand, lived back in my hometown for six months and played senior football week in week out for the majority of that time. I was getting my business off the ground and football was going okay for the most part, but there was always something that would annoy and stress the shit out of me every morning that I woke up. University. I needed to go. Regardless of whether I’d be a pro player or not, I had to experience student life and get away from Canberra.

I picked five places that could accommodate what I wanted to do. Sydney, Netherlands, East or West coast of the United States, England or stay in Canberra. I ended up applying to uni’s in England and Holland because quality of football is excellent, uni life = great, new people, international, blah blah. I didn’t get accepted into any in England, but I did in the Netherlands. The Hogeschool van Amsterdam looked kind of risky. There wasn’t much info on the internet, student reviews, etc and I really had no idea what I was in for.  Off I went to Europe to vacay with mates, partied and then started my Amsterdam experience where more partying begun. It was a fantastic decision, and the last 4-5 months there ticked off all my expectations in terms of what I wanted to get out of it all and maybe even more. It’s everything I wanted it to be and I’m so glad that I did it. I still have four months to go starting from February and approaching the Summer there I’m sure it’s going to be even more of a blast.

“In 2012, the dream I chased will become true reality”

That’s what I wrote 12 months ago. Infact 24 months ago, 2011 was supposed to be “the year”. It didn’t become reality, but there were so many positives to take out of this year in terms of football. These are the major milestones

• Janurary – One week trial with Szigetszentmiklos in 2nd Division, Hungary
  Outcome: They didn’t need a foreign bench player, and former national team coach recommended me to another team.
• Febuary – July – Played week in week out in 20-25 games. Started off my first three senior games with four goals, tied top scorer for first 3 games in season. Threw veteran, 31 year old player on the bench at age 18.
• September – October – Impressed enough to be given six weeks at FC Volendam in Dutch 2nd Division. Improved each and every week. Coaches saw me as a reserve level player, they didn’t need that. Felt I would have definitely become one of the best players in reserves after a few months.
• November  – Quora post goes viral with 373 upvotes at this moment and 14,094 views to the answer. California entrepreneur involved in a “discovering talent” platform offers to help me. Trying to leverage his extremely valuable connections at Red Bull for example to “sponsor my development”

I’m thinking about what I want to achieve next year through football. It’s hard for me to say. I know for a fact that I’m constantly improving, I can feel it in the way I play and the way I act on the pitch. I just know that if I keep going I will make it. It’s just a matter of patience. Once I’m through that crack and I get a pro contract, anything is possible from there as Taylor said in his funny Nigerian accent at Moses’ training many months ago.

I stress and worry about football, but I really don’t have to. Better planning is what I have to do and I have to commit so I don’t unnecessarily worry about training. I just have to keep training and hang in there, when the next opportunity comes, grab it with both arms and it’s then down to club to see if it’s a right time and place sort of thing for me.

In 2013, I want to say that the dream I chased will become a reality, but anything can happen that may stop that. I do believe that next year will be better than all the rest for football. I’m so grateful to be living the life I am living and I really don’t know many people that are happier than I am even though I haven’t caught the dream yet! I guess the journey of getting there is what it’s all about. It’s a cliche, but my family, friends and people that support me are all so amazing. These are all great reasons to celebrate this moment I’m living in. Cheers to a happy new year!