D1 Athlete Turned Full-Time Creator - The Lessons I've Learned
Prior to being a filmmaker/content creator I was an athlete.
I played lots and lots of soccer. And apparently I was pretty good.
I always enjoyed playing soccer from a young age. I think I started around the age 4 or 5 years old. I played other sports when I was younger but it was real evident that soccer was my thing lol.
You could say I had a natural talent for it when I was young but that natural talent soon became an obsession that was worked upon.
Every. Single. Day.
The soccer ball was glued to my feet at all times. Inside, outside, on the ground, in the air. It didn’t matter. If there was a ball around, I was kicking it.
I remember my growth as a player really started to take off at the age of 9 years old. I had finally made the jump from a school team to a club team and lets just say that the club players were on a different level than what I was used to lol.
Most the guys on the team had been playing with each other since they were 4 or 5 and were exposed to better training at an earlier age.
Me? I was used to my school team where I didn’t pass and scored all the goals.
That quickly changed. I went from being the best player to the worst player real quick.
But it never discouraged me. It motivated me to get better.
And with time, I did get better.
Slowly, as the years went on and I began to sharpen my skills and grow a little (I was really small growing up), I began to stand out.
Because I was smaller than most guys, I relied on my foot skills and ball control.
That ended up helping me out a lot when I made it to higher levels of play.
Playing for the top club teams and ODP (Olympic Development Program), I was a top player in the region going into high school.
I ended up playing Varsity all 4 years in high school but when the game really changed for me was when I got that growth spurt lol.
I was around 16, Junior year, when I grew.
This was around the time when I started to play for DC United’s Academy team.
I lived in Baltimore for my whole childhood so I was driving an hour and a half, sometimes 2 hours to practice 4 times a week and once for a game on the weekend.
And when high school season was in full force, I was playing high school practice after school and then driving to DC to make academy practice right after.
It’s safe to say I was dedicated lol.
The first year playing for DC United Academy I got recruited to play for the University of Maryland.
I was 16 at the time I was recruited.
It was an easy decision for me to commit to playing for Maryland. It was my home state and they were a Top 10 D1 school for soccer. They had won 3 National Championships before I even went there. They now have 4. They are 6th overall for most National Championships won in the history of college soccer.
So while I was waiting to go off to college and play for the notable Sasho Cirovski, I was training with DC United’s Academy. During my time here I got the chance to train with the First Team (actual pro team) occasionally which was really encouraging going into college.
When the time came to go to college, I said goodbye to my parents, not really because they only lived an hour away lol, and got integrated into the soccer culture at UMD.
It was intense. Something I hadn’t ever experienced before. More intense than training with the actual pro team at DC United. At least it felt like it lol.
Not only did the coaches expect you to play at the highest level ever single day but the players expected the same. Iron sharpens Iron. Sasho used to always say that.
I quickly realized why this program was one of the best in the country. The standards they held for every single person that was a part of it were extremely high.
It was truly a culture. A band of brothers. We played together, practiced together, ate together, worked out together, studied together, partied together, and were roommates. We did everything together.
We had to be in the locker room every single day. Even our days off for recovery. It was a full time job.
But we were treated like royalty. Thousands of dollars worth of gear given to you every new semester. New cleats whenever you wanted. Massages whenever you wanted. Nutritionist at your service. Leading recovery and rehabilitation technology. Doctors and trainers taking care of us 24/7. People knowing your name all around the school because they came to your games.
Oh yeah…we had to do the whole school thing too. I wasn’t very good at that.
But on the field I was having a blast.
I felt as if the past 13 years of playing soccer every day was finally paying off on the big stage.
Playing in the national championship, winning the ACC Championship, winning the BIG 10 Championship twice. Being selected to the ALL Freshman Team alongside teammate Zack Steffen. You might have heard of him. He won the Premiere League with Manchester City and is also one of the US National Team goal keepers.
With all the success, excitement, and memories I made with college soccer, I never ended up playing professionally.
And I know what you’re thinking….did you get injured or something?
No I did not.
I ended up transferring to play at San Diego State University for my senior year.
Why did I choose to do this?
I got benched at Maryland my junior year and the following year wasn’t looking too promising.
You may ask why I got benched?
I lost focus.
Everything that got me to that point in the first place, I stopped doing.
College life, drinking, girls, all the above.
And to be clear, I didn’t let myself go. I still trained very hard but my head wasn’t in it.
In order to play at the highest level, or do anything at the highest level for that matter, you have to be completely locked in. 100 percent focused.
So my time at UMD had come to an end and I hopped on a plane to San Diego to finish out my college career with the Aztecs.
A fresh start.
I was warmly welcomed into a new family. A new band of brothers.
The culture wasn’t that different from UMD. The only difference was we spent our off days at the beach.
We trained hard & played hard.
With a new environment, new teammates & coaches, and new opportunities in front of me, I came into the program with a determination to make an impact.
We had one hell of a season. The best season in over a decade or so for the program. We ended up being 9th in the country at one point then lost in the first round of the playoffs.
I played a great season. One that I was proud of and one my coaches were proud of as well.
Even with a great year, I was not selected to the MLS draft.
My childhood dreams of becoming a professional soccer player were shattered.
I had spent my whole life working up to the point of playing professionally only to never actually reaching that point.
After my college career I played in San Diego for a year with a semi-professional team in hopes of climbing up the ranks but I felt a shift in my heart.
A shift that told me to hang up the cleats and pursue something else.
Insert camera…
The months leading up to hanging up the cleats, I had been interested in photography and videography.
Taking full advantage of the beautiful west coast views, I explored and wandered around taking as many pictures and videos as I could.
Some could say it runs in the family…..
My dad has been an architectural photographer for 30 years so I grew up around cameras.
Once he realized I had an interest, he let me borrow one of his old cameras.
When soccer had come to an end, I made the decision to move back home and work for my dad.
Although this was a super confusing time, it ended up being the biggest blessing ever.
My dad mentored me around the technical side of the camera and the business side. And I had missed mom’s cooking…so that was an extra bonus.
Although, I was helping them build the architectural video side of their business, that type of work wasn’t what I was really interested in.
Fast forward 5 years and I have been filming everything from music videos, commercials, documentaries, fashion shows, branded content, & short films.
I’ve traveled to 10 different countries and 3 different continents for my work in the past 2 years.
I’ve got to work with some highly creative people, have been fortunate enough to experience cultures that I never would have imagined, and created some of the best and most fulfilling work of my life.
Picking up a camera has been one of the biggest blessings of my life.
To check out more of my work here’s a link to my website:
THE LESSONS I’VE LEARNED
Throughout the journey of becoming a professional athlete and ultimately not obtaining it and having to “start over” I learned some valuable life lessons.
Here they are in no particular order of importance:
Don’t put your identity in what you do
One of the biggest lessons that I learned is not to put your identity in what you do. For me, I was a soccer player and that’s what everyone knew me as. So I embodied that identity.
And once soccer ended, I was left searching for answers. Trying to figure out who I was.
And it’s so easy to put your identity in your work. Work takes up a majority of our lives. Work can give us purpose. But work will not last forever. For a lot of people it ends at 5pm. For others it’s nonstop and leaks into our family lives.
The problem is everyone’s work is susceptible to scrutiny. Everyone’s work can be judged. It is not wise to leave your identity at the mercy of someone else’s opinions.
For the modern human, it’s one bad comment on Instagram that completely destroys your self-worth.
If you’re not on social media, it’s one bad month of business that will have you feeling like your not valuable.
BE, DO, HAVE.
First become, then do, then have.
Don’t skip the part of figuring out who you are. THIS IS IMPORTANT.
And I’m not talking to just teenagers or people in their 20’s. I know A LOT of older adults who don’t know who they are.
They are just a different version of who their parents were.
Same beliefs, same values, same thoughts. Never actually deciding for themselves what to believe.
You can lose something a lot quicker than you can achieve something
I spent 19 years chasing a dream to become a professional soccer player. I let my foot off the gas for 5 months (1 season) and lost it all.
I played on a level where there were MLS recruiters at all of our games. Constantly looking for new talent and the best players to bring onto their teams. 1 game could potentially take you off their list, let alone 1 season.
Think of getting into good physical shape. It takes a lot longer to lose weight than it does to gain weight.
It’s never too late to embark on a new journey
Now when soccer ended for me, I was only 23. Some reading this might say, “Mike, that’s super young!”
You’re 100% right. That is super young. But when all your friends are getting career jobs right out of college it can be a little discouraging. Not to mention that is what society expects of you.
But looking back, at the time I am writing this I am 29, I still think I am not too old to embark on a new journey.
I don’t think there will ever be an age where it’s too late to pursue something else.
I always admire the story of my parents when they just began to have children. My dad, before he was a photographer, was an airline pilot when he met my mom. When my mom became pregnant with my sister, my oldest sibling, my dad decided he wanted to change careers and become a photographer.
Now I don’t know about you but that gives me anxiety just thinking about doing that lol. The thought of having a child on the way and not having financial stability can seem frightening. And I’m sure it was for my parents.
But they made it work. And they believed in each other. My mom was able to support my dad and the family while he built his company. And it paid off because my dad has built a thriving photo & video business.
Some people might not be as fortunate to have someone in your corner that can support you but no one said life transitions were easy.
Most of the time sacrifices will need to be made.
Temporary sacrifices that will produce enduring success.
Life is not linear
When we’re growing up we all feel a pressure to figure out what we want to do for the rest of our lives.
It is a pressure that is imposed onto us from every angle.
I can remember being in high school and the teachers constantly reminding us to think about what we want to major in for college.
I never knew what I wanted to study. Nothing seemed interesting to me. And the things that did seem interesting to me, I didn’t have the grades to get into those programs.
This is how the world (mainly the education system) seems to think life works:
Go to school, get a degree, find a job…happily ever after.
Now when I put it this plainly it’s easy to disagree that life doesn’t work like that.
Yet most of us succumb to this route and then put our children through the same thing.
Now without going on a tangent about our education system, and I mean the American education system, I’ll say this and then move on:
Firstly, it’s a business. A very profitable business.
Secondly, it was originally created to support the demands of the industrial revolution. We no longer live in that era. We live in a digital era. But our educational system still reflects that of an industrial revolution.
Thirdly, schools prioritize certain subjects over others. In doing this, we’re neglecting the very obvious fact that children all have different strengths and weaknesses. One child that may excel in math and science may struggle in the humanities and arts. Vice versa. But when schools regard certain subjects as more important and don’t put as much effort into cultivating a kid’s natural ability then we see a slew of problems for those children and the marketplace later in life.
Now if you’re anything like me, life has not been go to school, get a degree, get a job, and happily ever after.
The processes of a machine are linear. But human life and experience are not linear.
Life’s experiences compile onto one another and often lead us to places we never expected.
One job that you originally didn’t want may provide the skills that you didn’t know you needed for the job that you do want.
Having an expectation that an 18 year old should know what they want to do for the rest of their life is naïve and foolish.
If you don’t know when you’re 18, college is an expensive way to find out, if you even find out, and having the degree doesn’t guarantee you the job that it once used to.
As an athlete, someone always structured my days for me. As an entrepreneur, I had to learn how to structure my days.
Now I know this can seem immature. But I was once very immature lol.
Being a D1 college athlete, your entire schedule is made for you. The only real freedom you have is what classes you choose and what time (as long as they’re not during practice, team workouts, team meetings, watching film, or recovery).
So it’s a very strict schedule.
I know I wasn’t the only one with this mentality either. A lot of D1 athletes could care less about the schooling. They are there for what they’ve been really good at their entire lives. Playing their sport.
Let’s put it this way - if I wasn’t good at soccer I probably wouldn’t have gone to college.
However, I am not advocating for this ignorant mentality but I am simply expressing my truth because I know it’s true for others.
When I got out of college, I realized that no one was telling me to show up anywhere and if I wanted something to happen I had to go make it happen.
This seems pretty obvious but if you went into a 9-5 straight out of college, you still had someone telling you to show up somewhere.
I didn’t have this. I had to learn how to get the most productivity out of my day. And I had to get beyond the toxic advice of “sleep when you’re dead” lol.
Hard work in sports doesn’t correlate to hard work in other careers.
With sports it’s very black & white. The amount of effort and practice you put in the better you get.
Now I’m not saying life outside of sports is not like this. The principle still holds true for the most part.
But for most sports there’s a lot of physical exertion and less mental exertion.
I read recently that Neymar, the Brazilian superstar, uses 10% less brain activity than amateur athletes. He basically is playing on auto-pilot without thinking about it. And it’s truly a joy to watch him play.
Now I am by no means comparing myself to Neymar but I can understand this because when I played it was like second nature. I didn’t have to think about it. It was mainly instinct from the years of repetition and practice.
But when I got out of sports I actually had to use my brain and identify what hard work looks like in mental fields.
Again, seems pretty funny and embarrassing but it was true for me and I know it’s true for many other athletes.
Recognition & praise can distract you if you let it. Stay humble.
Like I said, I was always known as the kid who was good at soccer.
I can remember from a young age people telling me how good I was.
I always considered myself humble but there may have been a sense of entitlement I developed throughout the years.
Especially when it came to college. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this newsletter, we were treated like royalty. People screaming your name at games. People coming up to you on campus and asking for your autograph. Girls giving you attention because you’re an athlete. It can inflate the ego overtime.
But I quickly got humbled the following years.
Which was a really good lesson that I needed to learn and I’m glad I learned it earlier in life rather than later.
What seems like the worst thing to ever happen to you could be the best thing to ever happen to you.
Being a professional soccer player took up the majority of my thoughts for 19 years. When it didn’t happen I was crushed.
But little did I know that in the midst of one dream dying, a new one would come to life.
A life that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
When one door closes a new one opens…if you let it.
You cannot dwell on the past.
One of the best decisions that I made when I chose to hang up the cleats was to not dwell on my past.
Yes I had a great time playing soccer and yes I wished I made it to the pros but life still had to go on.
I always have confidence on whatever it is I put my mind to but I had to remind myself that I’m stepping into a new field that I know nothing about and it’s going to take some time to develop my skills. Just like it did with soccer.
What I see a lot of people do is play victim to their circumstances. Which is just wasting time.
I think my parents were actually concerned with how quick I put soccer behind me lol. But I was more excited to step into my new career and I know I had a lot of catching up to do.
I couldn’t have possibly seen myself where I am today 6 years ago when I first picked up a camera.
But I just followed my interests.
You don’t need a complete game plan for your life or your career. You just need to start and the game plan will reveal itself.
I’ve always been creative.
For most of my life I never considered myself creative.
It wasn’t until I began a so called “creative” career that I considered myself creative.
Looking back, I’ve always been creative.
My style of play in soccer was creative. I always loved playing with flare.
Always was practicing tricks and flicks. Different ways to kick the ball and maneuver around the field.
Like I said playing soccer was very instinctual for me. It demanded me to be alert and “on my toes” as we called it. Prepared for anything and ready to improvise in a seconds notice.
That is much like the creative process. Not tied to any strict way of doing something but more so flowing with what feels instinctual.
This holds especially true with filmmaking.
You always go into a film prepared to shoot it a certain way but almost 100% of the time you deviate from that original plan.
Now I can’t help but see every aspect of my life in a creative light.
And I feel my purpose shifting in helping others see that they have an infinite well of creative resources inside of them.
Here are some pictures of me playing soccer:
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