Open Letter to youngsters
You only have about 10-12 good years of professional football in you.
The majority of your career, those years, you will be in your 20s.
Now the 20s, my bra, are generally a trap and full of pressure for everybody.
Unfortunately, because you probably don’t have education, you don’t have the luxury to mess around in your 20s like everybody else, because you might not have a back-up plan like a formal qualification.
Look up a player by the name of Emile Baron, a former goalkeeper from right here innie Kaap.
At his peak while playing for Kaizer Chiefs for four years, Baron was earning R70 000 per month.
He then broke his leg back in 2013 and was forced to retire because at 34 he was advised that he wouldn’t recover fully because of his age.
He apparently got an insurance payout from his club Wits back then because he broke his while playing for them.
But whatever he got wasn’t enough to carry him through life after football and he has fallen to tough times, without a job or formal qualification to work or even coach.
FIRST STEPS: Kids playing. Photo: Mohamed Messara/EPA.
Your 30s is where life truly begins and this applies to everybody.
Your 30s will test your decision-making and whatever you did in your 20s will affect how people take to you.
You’ll find that many people might have made some more significant progress by then and you will feel like you have to start from scratch.
A pro-football career requires a lot of sacrifice and dedication.
A lot of guys, your idols and peers, struggle with the demands of the game because they don’t realise this and they are not prepared to give up certain things. Please be aware and know these things.
There are more people who haven’t played pro football than those that have played pro football, it’s basic logic.
So don’t cut the people who didn’t play pro out as pillars of strength and good advice for you.
Remember, many pro footballers lack the same knowledge and face the same challenges as you. So they are not exactly the best people to ask about real life now, are they?
ROLE MODEL: LeBron James. Photo: Etienne Laurent/EPA.
An example of this is LeBron James. He’s not a footballer, but rather a basketball player.
But this guy has surrounded himself with good ouens that he grew up with.
I don’t suggest that you do the same, because you might not be as lucky to have educated ouens like LeBron.
But you have to choose better friends or partners to have a good solid career.
All of LeBron’s guys work in the background to make sure LeBron is the best and makes the most money playing basketball. They have also set up their own companies as a result.
So, there is more outside of football than there is within it. Football is just one aspect of your life. Please remember that.
We want to watch and read about players who enjoy the game. Try to always remember that when you started playing, it was out of enjoyment.
Don’t let anything change that!