Book by nicholas fletcher

After the Final Whistle Nick Fletcher

After the Final Whistle Nick Fletcher

Dedication

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’d like to dedicate this book to my parents for supporting me and helping me follow my dreams. Another big thanks goes out to my teammates, my brothers that I’ve shared these memories with over years and years of playing the beautiful game. I’d also like to thank any coach or parent that has dedicated time into the development of young soccer players, you all are creating the future generation of superstars. Thank you and enjoy.

(previous/cover) Terry Wilson over looks his team training. (2018) (left) Player prepares to strike a shot at goal. (2018)

Acknowledgements

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’d like to acknowledge my inter viewee’s, Rafa Soares and Terr y Wilson. Also I’d like to give my upmost gratitude to all my Freestyle teachers for the constant work they did just to make sure we can get these books done. Not to mention my Freestyle classmates for sticking together and staying on campus until 11:30pm just so we can finish our projects together.

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Member from Wilson’s youth team contesting a header. (2018)

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INTRODUCTION CAREER OF UNCERTAINTY The grueling life and complications of being a professional player.

PLAYER’S FINALE

The painful reality of retirement, and the complications that ensue.

THE NEXT PASSION

These ex-pros look for their next venture inside of the beautiful game.

CONCLUSION

Preface

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occer is a deep passion of mine, I’ve played the game for nearly 8 years now. These coaches have been mentors to me and have shaped who I am as a person, so I thought it would be good to make something meaningful that can detail the struggle they went through, and the challenges they’ve faced to get where they are today. I detailed the things that shaped their careers and lives since they have shaped mine so influentially.

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Introduction

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occer is a dangerous sport, with one study over a single season getting the result that almost 65% of players sustained an injury during that season, with almost 50% of injuries keeping the said player out for 3 weeks or more. The danger of injury is also a focal point of the study.

Terry Wilson, an ex-professional soccer player, knows the consequences of re-injury all too well. Whilst playing for Nottingham Forest in the top flight of soccer in England, the Premier League, he sustained 3 severe knee injuries, with the finale ending his career for good. Taking that into account, the career of a professional soccer player is a daunting one, with the repercussions of dedicating your life to something so delicate is a gamble, especially in the player’s career once they have finished their playing days. The average career for a Premier League player is only 8 years, so that leaves a lot of life left for uncertainty. This project documents what these two ex-professionals are doing after their final whistles.

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Terry Wilson 12

Rafa Soares 13

Chapter 1

A Career of Uncertainty

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onumental challenges in professional sports is a given.

But in the rigorous leagues of the international soccer leagues, they’re at an all time high. For Terry Wilson, his struggles with injuries were like no other.

Wilson broke into the professional scene at the age of 16, an extremely young age for a soccer player at that time. He thrived at his club and was a key player in Nottingham Forest’s FA Cup run in 1989, with his team coming in 3rd in the tournament. 4 years later, disaster struck for this rising star. Wilson was playing in a match for Nottingham Forest against Arsenal in the midst of the 1993-1994 season, when a ball came bouncing to him in the middle of the field. He subsequently raised his leg to volley the ball out of the air when an opposing player ran into him and snapped his knee back. Wilson had a history of

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injuries and had just been sidelined for six months with a previous injury. So to him, nothing was getting him off that field, especially some little injury. He was “hobbling” around the field at that point and sometime in the ensuing minutes he attempted to play a pass with his right foot, which meant he would have to plant his the left leg which he injured minutes prior.

As he planted, his knee gave way, and he fell to the floor almost falling onto his knee. This all happened 12 minutes into the 90 minute match. Wilson reflected on this and how devastating this setback was for him. He had previous injuries before that but had always overcome them swiftly, but this was a career ending setback that no player could overcome. An injury is the biggest fear to any athlete, but one that could end someone’s career in the sport is unthinkable. An early end to a player’s

Terry Wilson (middle) competing for Nottingham Forrest, 1998

Collectable Football Sticker of Terry Wilson, 1988

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career is a scary reality to those dedicating their lives to succeeding in this sport. The goal besides succeeding in the sport, especially for players competing at the highest levels, is to earn the highest amount of money they can over a short period of time. In soccer in England, according to the Professional Footballers Association (the PFA), the average career length is only 8 years from the time the player signs their professional contract, yet the average retirement age is about 35 years old. It’s believed that a player will reach his or her peak performance level at around the age of 26 years old. This leaves close to a 10 year gap from when the player signs their first professional contract, the modern expectant is 17-18 years old and the minimum age is only 15, to when they hit their peak in playing. Depending on the league and the team, this can leave a player in a crippling financial state if they don’t fully succeed by the time they are 26.

The 2017 average salary in the top flight of English soccer, and arguably the top level of soccer in the whole world, is 2,642,508 pounds, or 50,817 pounds a week. On paper, this looks like a substantial amount of money for a player as young as 15 could be earning. But when you look deeper, you see that the average amount of pay for certain players is much lower. In youth academies, where almost all young players start their careers, players will earn 15,600- 67,600 pounds a year, even for the hottest prospects. This leaves uncertainty in the players future, because almost all young players in this professional scene left school around the age 16 to pursue soccer full time. If a certain player sustains a career ending injury when they are only 18, they will have only 2 years of low wages to live their life off of. This leaves a huge pay gap and a huge level of stress for these young players. In other countries, the issue with pay is a different story. A native of Novo Hamburgo, Brazil, Rafa Soares spent 10 years playing with various clubs in his native area.

He played most of his career with smaller clubs, where the common pay is just about 11,200 dollars a year. This leaves 16

a significant wage gap between the English players and players elsewhere in the world. Soares didn’t have many complaints about pay, yet he had plenty of stories of good times with the team and good experiences, which brings the point across that wages aren’t the most important thing young players are worrying about. Ultimately, the biggest struggle in professional soccer is consistency in all forms.

Consistency in performances, consistency in playing time, and consistently making a name for yourself in hopes of moving on to a higher level. The issue of injury and pay obviously is a factor, but the problem with performance comes first, because if you aren’t getting time on the field, then there’s no way you could ever succeed as a player.

“95 percent of boys back in the U.K., that’s their dream. They want to play professional football.”

-Terry Wilson Member from Wilson’s youth team battles for possession. (2018)

“They say goalkeepers are like a fine wine, better with age.”

-Rafa Soares

Chapter 2

A Player’s Finale

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nding something is always hard, whether it’s a relationship, a job, or anything that you’ve put a lot of time and effort into. Thus ending your career as a professional soccer player is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, decision to make as a player. Expected retirements are ones that tend to be more planned out and more ceremonial, or like Terry Wilson, who was forced to retire early due to a unexpected injury. He remorsefully reminisced on the event, “[The injury] is my whole memory of that game. 12 minutes. And it’ll live with me forever. January 12, 1993.” The average career span for a professional footballer is just under 8 years, which leaves years of uncertainty left when someone decides to end their career. The lifestyle change between playing professional and being an icon to young kids and people, versus after retiring and living a normal life that one might not be used to. Rafa Soares, an ex-professional who was seen as a icon in his hometown, spoke on the uncertainty and this, “...when I finished playing of course it was really hard to decide to stop, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do anymore, that was my passion, and I kept thinking about it.” This reflection from someone with real experiences in this field brings up a interesting question.

Should professional clubs assist players with transitioning from professional player to not having a job for the first time in years. It’s known that some clubs award long term players a coaching or technical director job inside of the club, but those prestigious positions usually only come to players that have been extremely long servers of them. In most players case, the future is undecided once they choose to hang up their boots. When Wilson was asked about what he

(previous page) Goalkeeper from Wilson’s youth team claims a high ball. (2018) (left) Member of Wilson’s youth team cuts out a pass. (2018) 21

had planned to due after retirement, he responded with, “Honestly I had no clue. Educational wise I left school at 16 to pursue my dreams, and thought that it would last forever. You don’t really think about it particularly at that young age that things could come to an end that quickly.” But as it comes for Rafa Soares, his retirement was less sudden. He was playing professionally in his native country of Brazil, when his sister, who was living in the US at the time, invited him over to visit. At this point, Soares was having doubts about his playing career, “I played my last season game, but [retiring] wasn’t something I planned. The season ended in May, and I had a lot of stuff going through my mind, like I’m old, I’m old, I’m old. I knew that with soccer you need to make enough money between 21-32, and if you don’t your life after that is going to be miserable. That made me realize I need something going on in my life and I need to learn English.”

This plan took action after Soares moved to the US to attend Foothill College in Los Altos, California.

He lived in Mountain View and started learning English, and during that he got an opportunity to play for Foothills soccer team for the two years he attended there. This experience was a helpful one for Soares, as he could have the transition from his home country to the foreign US helped by engaging in a familiar activity, the beautiful game. This transition from stardom to a ‘regular’ person can be extreme, and in some cases, end up in disaster.

Chris Mitchell was a Scottish professional soccer 22

player, who played for multiple Scottish teams around his area, before moving to Bradford City, a well known English Association club. But after complications with a spinal surgery, Mitchell was forced to go from playing professionally for his former club, Queen of the South, to part-time for his new club, Clyde, while working in a factory. He eventually would finish playing entirely and start training as a salesman for his uncles company. But during his training he confessed that he was in a state of depression, and his family took him to a therapist who prescribed him medication, which he stopped taking due to adverse side effects.

Mitchell struggled with the career change from a well-paid professional soccer player to juggling a job in a factory and playing soccer part time. This proved to be to much to him, and Mitchell took his own life on May 7th, 2016. He was 27 years old. Mitchell’s former clubs alongside his family started a charitable foundation in his name, with the purpose of helping formed professionals with the transition into new jobs. The foundation, called the Chris Mitchell Foundation, now works with the SPFL (Scottish Premier Football League) Trust to provide mental first aid to clubs all across the nation, along with courses and trainings to help other players find jobs once they retire from playing. This sums up that retirement from the game is one of the hardest decisions these players can ever make, and it can affect their lives in many different ways.

Rafa Soares (green, top left) and his team, circa 1997

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Chapter 3

The Next Passion

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he most common job straight out of playing professionally is coaching. Many great coaches were also fine players in their time, and that seems to be because their knowledge of the game transcends the boundary between playing and instructing. In the case of Terry Wilson and Rafa Soares, their coaching experiences have been with youth, and developing young players.

Youth development is one of the biggest targets of every professional team, with almost every major club in Europe having an extensive youth program with the goal of developing players to become the next stars for that club. AFC Ajax, a club located in Amsterdam, Holland, is a prime example of having players come full circle. They have one of the most successful youth academies of any professional soccer team, with players graduating from the academies

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and becoming all time greats, such as Johan Cruyff, one of the most influential soccer figures of all time.

This club is a prime example of the players going straight into coaching, as the head coaches for multiple youth academy teams are decorated ex-players of the club. This pathway leaves players with a clear pathway into a career into coaching. With Rafa Soares however, this pathway was much less clear. Moving to the US to pursue an education and fluency in English, he had no plans to coach.

He had played professional in his native country of Brazil, but he had never had an coaching experience besides volunteering for his teams youth academy once or twice. But he was approached to start coaching at a youth soccer organization here in the US, and he took that opportunity and excelled in coaching and goalkeeper trainings. He took on a team at the

Terry Wilson (far left) with his current team. (2017)

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(above) Rafa Soares (bottom middle) with his team in Sweden. (2017)

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club MVLA named Vipers Blue, and proceeded to develop a close relationship with this team over the next 6 years.

When asked about this, he positively reflects on these experiences by talking about his relationship with that team, “I think those players, they’re like my own kids, you know, because I spent more time with them then I did with my own kids … many 3-4 day weekends spent together … like all the experiences we had together were priceless, you cannot describe in words, so that’s the most rewarding experience I had [coaching] soccer.” A coach in a young player’s life can be one of the most influential figures they’ll ever have. The ideals the coach applies onto these kids will stick with them for the foreseeable future, not just inside the game of soccer. Ideals of how you treat other people, teamwork, and approaching conflict are all things than can be proctored by a coach to a player. That all depends on the coach as well, as a certain coach can approach problems inside of a team with a more aggressive or hostile stance, whilst other coaches will approach problems with a calm attitude. In my experience, the coaches that help players acce the most find the balance between yelling and staying quiet. A team needs a leader in the coaching position, and a coach that is extremely passive can come off as lacking confidence in the team and in themselves, and that is a harmful factor for team morale. The coach is the most influential figure for a youth team, so that person needs to have experience in the game so they can shape these young players into future superstars.

“All the experiences we had together were priceless, you cannot describe in words.”

-Rafa Soares speaking on his team

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Conclusion

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ooking back at my experiences as a soccer player, I could not be more grateful for this guidance I’ve received from my coaches. After crafting this book and doing all this research I’ve come to appreciate my coaches that little bit more, because I see the effort that goes into working with youth and making the next generation of soccer players.

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About the Author

Nick Fletcher is a junior at Freestyle Academy. He has played soccer for close to eight years and has developed a love for the competitiveness of the game. He’s a film enthusiast and he hopes to become a production major in college. Then, he hopes to obtain a job opportunity in the industry and make a living off of doing what he loves.

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Works Cited Stubbe, Janine H., et al. Advances in Pediatrics., U.S. National Library of Medicine, Feb. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4495432/.

“Career by Numbers: Footballer.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 20 Mar. 2010, www.theguardian. com/money/2010/mar/20/professional-footballer-career.

“Premier League Average Weekly Wage Passes £50,000, Says New Study - BBC Sport.”BBC News, BBC, www. bbc.com/sport/football/42130297.

“Arsenal v Nottingham Forest, 12 January 1993.” Nigeria National Football Team: Record v Brazil, www.11v11. com/matches/arsenal-v-nottingham-forest-12-january-1993-32597/.

ThePFA.com. “Age.” Qualification Pyramid - Coaching Pathways\Courses - Coaching - The PFA, www.thepfa. com/equalities/commitment-to-all/age.

Soares, Rafa. “Personal Interview.” 4 Apr. 2018.

Wilson, Terry. “Personal Interview.” 14 Mar. 2018

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After the Final Whistle Nick Fletcher