Chasing the round ball around the world

If you had told me 14 years ago at the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa that I’d be in Japan today I would have told you your pulling my leg. I did not trust the process but I am here and I am living answered prayers. I have been fortunate enough to attend two FIFA World Cups in France in 1998 and 2010 in South Africa and I hoping to attend many more in the future as well as several Olympic Games. Dreams mean nothing without actionable steps to achieve them, you see I have made football my whole life, and when you make football your whole life one needs to keep making football moments well into the future.

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This article is about actionable steps to keep being embraced and have synergy with football. I have made the choice of merging English teaching, language acquisition and football together. Being an English language assistant educator allows me access into countries I wouldn’t have access to by pursuing Football alone. Not only do I aspire of being in Japan but look forward to being in countries such as Spain, France, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, South Korea and Germany. This is a testament that your dreams can come true. Its difficult to connect the dots looking forwards but you can certainly connect them looking backwards.

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If it was not for the JET programme in Japan, I would have likely not applied for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) certificate in administration and management of football which I am currently completing. I am learning about core elements of the game such as event management and volunteering, football and social responsibility and women football. These modules will steer me in the right direction for me to obtain my objectives of working in an international sports organisation such as FIFA or the IOC.

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If it wasn’t for being in Japan, there is a possibility I wouldn’t have started practising Japanese as a language. Even though I am still an absolute beginner in the language after one year I have set a target of learning as much Japanese as possible within the next three years. Yes, that’s my timeframe and I am playing the long game. All I can do now is devote some time to studying the language each day and trust the process. What I put in is hopefully what I get out. I am hoping to stay the course. It does not matter how slowly you go if you do not stop. ?

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I am hoping to replicate this process of language acquisition, English teaching and football together in all the other countries I am looking to live in, using English to get in, then get involved with football at grassroots level in those respective countries. The USA will host the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and so to will Spain in 2030, I am looking to be at both those show pieces in some form or another. Either as a volunteer or as a spectator. I am using the podcast Japanese pod 101 and in the future Spanish pod 101 to learn these respective languages to be used for interpretation and to provide the competitive edge when applying to be a volunteer. Furthermore, I am planning on learning French also as it’s the language medium used at both FIFA and The IOC. It’s a ?long road but I am prepared to stay the course and play the long game. ?

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