 Hey, what's up coaches welcome back to the podcast today. We have coach ray from soro football academy He is based in California. I love this interview because he goes very deep into the power of networking and how he went from zero To 70 clients. He's doing this full-time So there's a lot of nuggets that he shares inside this interview here with coach Leo So sit back enjoy this interview and I'm excited to show you this so my coaching journey started with one of my buddies suggesting that I come out and help him coach and I was a little bit iffy at first. I didn't know if this was something I actually would be good at and something I wanted to do but um The first day that I started coaching I just absolutely fell in love with it when I realized the impact that I could have in the world and how I can help these Players develop their game. It really it really like hit a spark in me that From that day on it just has been growing and growing and growing and I've just been able to Take my first day of coaching into the rest of my life. It feels like so it was a really beautiful beautiful decision that I made to Just to start coaching and I've never looked back ever since Was it was coaching something that was it a personal experience when you were younger because sometime like for example for myself? I had a negative experience with coaches When I was younger and that inspired me to get into coaching. What was your sort of? Mine was So so my father was my coach until I was like about like 13 and then he was of course still my coach But he just wasn't on the field with me, right? My experience was absolutely amazing. I loved it, right? Um, I had other coaches from that point. I was about 13 had other coaches that took over and they were amazing as well So I'm thinking like okay these these guys like really really do a good job and then they know something Right, I really had a great experience. Um, I wanted to live up to that experience as well And it's funny because you know the game I feel like is always evolving and Starting from when I started coaching to where I'm at now There has been so much that changed about my coaching style that I looked back and I'm like I had a great experience You know, I'm very thankful for what I had But if I knew what I knew what I know now back then and if I got that style of training Would I be a different player? You know, so so now I look at it like okay I now I know what I know. Can I share it to these players? Can I give it to these players so that they can perform at their highest level? And it's just been it's just been awesome ever since I'm absolutely loving the I'm learning every single day I'm growing every single day and I'm you know, I basically Prepare execute and evaluate I prepare the training session I execute the training session and I evaluate the training session and I do that in in most aspects of life Yeah, it's been working out really well. I love that. Awesome. So so tell us a bit about then. How did you? How did you get into business then what inspired you to start up a Soccer training business the first day so I worked for a company called skills Institute It's a recreational company where players go there to try and become competitive or just to have fun Right. So you have kind of a mix of players. I was um first day of coaching when I spoke to specifically this one girl She looked at me like this I was like, yeah, and she went she did it and I was like, oh my gosh, this is this is beautiful This is this is amazing, right? Um, I was so then fast forward a few days I see the same um same girl with her father Who's use big strong man and and I'm like, okay I need to I was sitting in my car and I'm like if I don't go up and talk to them and tell them that Hey, can I just run a few drills with your daughter? Like I coached her this weekend and mind you this is my first time ever like working with kids So it felt kind of weird to just go up to somebody and ask them like hey Like I know your daughter like can I help you guys coach? So it was a Was a little bit of like I had to psych myself into it in a way But once I went up there and I talked to him 20-minute training session before I went to referee at the football facility and From that moment on he was like hey like what are you doing right now? I'm like he's like you want to have dinner like I'd love to but I'm working and ever since then this man actually became One of the best influences in my life became a business mentor and then actually ended up Building a field in his backyard And so now I'm training I'm training players in this field and I started with with one player training her For free and then I found three siblings So I had four players right off the bat for free. I felt like they were my proof of concept They were they were the start to To everything and then started with those four players and I just you know You know started scaling and started building from that and I'm like hey Here's the product for doing well like How can we you know word of mouth is huge and people start like what is he doing? It looks like good training and you know one thing leads to another and now now we're at 70 players So I'm working with the week. So it's uh, it's it was a very beautiful process. I absolutely It was like one decision that led to another that led to another that led to another and all I kept saying was yes You know, I didn't even when it was like a little scary at first You don't know what people are gonna think and all this kind of stuff. It's you just you just go with it You know, yeah, and then we're here today having this zoom meeting, you know That's fantastic. Well, congratulations for for the growth And in in your in your company But so so tell us a little bit about your your business then what what do you guys specialize in then? so I specialize in group trainings right because I do individual trainings and I we do like technique training But it's mainly in a group setting because I believe the best way to learn the game is to actually play the game Right, we do what I call isolated training Which is basically like cone drills or technique training, right? We do that for the game We don't play the game for isolated training so What I what I mean by that is basically my small group sessions are are where I Where I do a lot of my teaching right and We work on game concepts. We work on, you know our Communication communication with our teammates communication with our environment, right? We work on our decision making did the player make the best decision If the player makes the best decision to pass the ball, but they mess up the pass Hey, good job. Keep trying Right if the player makes a wrong decision and they should have passed the ball, but instead they dribble We will talk about the situation To them in front of everybody. So everybody understands the concept of hey Was my teammate open for a 1v0? Right and you know just kind of go through game situations That's what I that's what I mainly do because These players need to come here build a lot of confidence go back to their club teams and perform Right um So so group trainings are huge for me time and space is like absolutely everything and speed of play is so important, right? um Then we also do like, you know, like the isolated training like how to kick a ball dribbling passing shooting your first touch right and How to like influence the ball and all these things how to curve a ball How to hit the ball at the outside of your foot how to drive a ball like all these like isolated things we do those but For the game again in the team setting, right if a player wants a private like one-on-one session I'll have to I'll have to see like, okay. Is this a player that really I think needs it And there's a player that like is compatible basically, you know, and then even if we do a one-on-one I usually encourage them to come to a group training session because I believe the environment is so important Players I believe are a product of their environment I put players in an environment where they're going to have a lot of success first They're going to win most of their battles. They're going to have a great time It's going to be a very like you're going to score a goal. We're going to, you know You know Then we put in players Then we put players after they've built a lot of confidence We put them in the situation that might be a little more difficult A training session that they might lose most of their battles The training session where the battles that they win they mean so much because The players are bigger faster and stronger than them And they know that they're good enough But if they can do it against these players, then it just means so much more and development goes up so much So it's it's all about like the two different environments that they're in and how they can like Manage with with having a lot of confidence and winning a lot of battles to maybe having slightly less confidence during that session And maybe struggling a little bit but overcoming the challenges and you know working through those so That's my style of training mainly mainly small group training sessions That's cool. That's cool. So so you've been a soccer trainer For for a number of years now What for you is Does a perfect one-on-one or group session look like what should it what what should be included? Um the players performing at 100 percent The player is maintaining focus for an extended period of time um The players uh, like staying on task Right. What is the task? What is the objective? What are what are we doing right now? It's as simple as Where the session is the the drill is over. We are collecting footballs. How fast can we collect footballs? You'll see kids all the time going, you know Kicking the football and the goal juggling talking to their friends. All I ask them is what is a task? They go complete task. How fast can we complete the task? We're sprinting in and out of places. They're fully engaged, right? For me, it's it's all about the player's performance Right and um, and if the players are not quote-unquote performing as best as they should um As a coach, how can we influence the environment to ensure that we get the best out of our players? Because it's not the player's fault that you should look at yourself first before you Even do anything towards the player, right? So for me, the perfect training session is is having the players staying on task 100 which basically means staying focused and giving the best effort the whole time of the training session That's awesome. Love that. Love that response so Raymond, let me take you back to to when you you started your your business What was or what has been your your biggest obstacle since you first started? That's a that's a great question and um, You know, I want to say for for a guy like me a guy that does my style of work, you know with training I believe fields Are so important All right, you got to have like a venue to do what you want to do All right, um when I didn't have a consistent field I was kind of working within um with a company that already had booked So I was just kind of filling in these gaps trying to get get going and stuff I would go to public parks where there was more availability but then there was less consistency sometimes because club teams would come and you know Rent the fields without you knowing and the next thing you know you have to move over and move over and then you get pushed out so So fields is is super important. Um besides the fields my um I was funny. My father always told me this. He's like you're you're gonna be great with the kids right Can you handle the parents? Yeah Every one player every one player you have two parents at least You know what I mean? And so and I'm like, okay. I'm like, yeah, I'm pretty sure like I've handled you like you love me. This is good You know, it's a good start and uh I was like, okay, it's it's funny because um You know the players are are amazing and I love working with the players um parents I didn't realize how amazing the parents were going to be as well because I've I've had such amazing relationships like the first parent I've ever met built a field in his backyard became my Best friend my mentor, right? So I like the first person you meet like I met I got so lucky like I think it's almost unheard of that like Before you even start something you meet somebody and they just open your your eyes and your mind to To business and a lot of a lot of things so I've met some amazing amazing parents um I've also had to you know Had to deal with certain situations and certain things that aren't ideal, but they're to be expected right but You know when you when you deal with a tough situation or as we call an overload situation um How you deal with that is very important and I've had had a lot of like You know players at practice will like Be too physical with the player and a parent is like hey like my daughter's coming home With some bruises and stuff, you know, and you're like, okay, like how do I how do I emphasize that? You know safety is on number one priority You know, it's very important that our players are safe and they feel safe, right? But at the same time have that balance of hey, this is a this is a physical game You got to you got to win your space. You got to you know You got a battle you got you got to fight for your position in a way that's in a controlled environment All right, so you just there's like a middle ground. You always kind of have to find a if I for example, if I if I think uh, if I think heads I'm like, what is what is tails thinking? How do I how do I get both perspectives? How do I get both sides and and and find the middle ground between the two? That's always like a like a challenge for me. I'm thinking like, okay, like One side, right? I'm thinking one system, but then I'm like, hold on. What is the counter to that? What is the other end? What is the opposite of another coin? So Yeah, so some obstacles are definitely fields learning how to Learning how to deal with parents a little bit, right? And it's all a blessing though, right? These are these are all good things that I think Are a part of my process and I enjoy going through these things because I'm like, hey, what can I learn about? Okay, fields now fields aren't an issue for me now have It's it's beautiful now once I maximize this field then I got to think again. Okay. What's what's a bigger field maybe or something like that, right? Um With parents Thankfully now it's everything's smooth. Everything's going but I know there's gonna be Probably every month something's gonna come up and I'm gonna have to deal with it And the way to deal with it says a lot So those are two things. Um Also getting players right an obstacle is it's like Once you what if you only have four players, how do I get to 70? a lot of it is word of mouth a lot of it is You know, I believe in in manifestation. I believe in what you put out to the universe. You can get back But I also even hard work, right? So on instagram facebook Website right all these things they add to it when somebody wants to come to the program um But it's it's better to keep keep a player than to get a new player Yeah, right. So Getting a player is one thing keeping a player is another thing. So You know the field's parents and players Those are the three things that I would say are quote-unquote obstacles But really they're they're like learning opportunities They're situations that you get put in that once you figure them out and even if you didn't do the best Once you figure it out, you're like, oh, this is what I could do better next time. Perfect. Just keep it and move forward, you know Yeah, love that love that. So what would you say is one? big problem That a lot of American youth players have today. What are they? What a player's struggling with the most would you say? I love that question so much. Um speed of play The speed of play I I think um, you know some people it's the game is so simple And if you play simple, it's fast right, um once we start complicating things and You know slowing it down and trying to make that extra move It slows everything down But if you can get the ball and play the ball get the ball and play the ball get the ball and play the ball You don't even have to be the player one-on-one. They're gonna think you're gonna pass it and we're just gonna dribble Right training going And in a very good place, I think right in the u.s. Especially in san diego Football is growing a lot. We have two new teams. One of them is a men's second division team the other one is a woman's first division team and uh There's there's a lot of like hype around the game right now Private training is I think so important because Club teams don't really offer that Club teams will have a coach a head coach And then the head coach just deals with the whole team, right? There's no real assistant coach Right for for these youth players and stuff like that once you reach like um mls snacks or academy level They will have assistant coaches and stuff But at a younger age, there's it's almost like unheard of right unless a coach is like filling in for another coach There's no assistant coach And I think two things right the head coach the role is like the team intention What is the team here? Right, uh, what are the trends that we see in our team? The assistant coach Is like the individual player coach Where they were to go and they talk to each an individual player and like hey, did you understand what you were supposed to do here? Because you see the situation and stuff like that, right? So that's during their training session after their training session No club is offering like private training Mm-hmm And if they do they go to like a specific like speed school strength school or like Like a ball mastery school. Yeah, right and they they outsource it You know what I'm saying? So yeah for a guy like me. This is this is a really good thing because If you um, you know, hopefully the coach Because I'm a soccer trainer. I'm a football trainer, right? Some coaches think that they are the they are the elite football training coach and that they know exactly what these players need and This and that but I look at it like I'm a supplement to them Yeah, if they bring their team to me what I'm going to do is understand how that coach wants to play And get these players playing to that system As fast as possible And then giving back to the coach and say here are your players now You saw the games and drills we were running if you do something similar to this, you will be great Your team would be amazing And then if they have something some feedback or anything I'm always willing to listen and learn like I absolutely love it if a coach comes to me says, hey, I saw you do this Do this game Could you have influenced the environment and made the game better by this and I'm like Oh, maybe I could have that's that's an amazing An amazing like reflection you have. Thank you for sharing with me You know, like I love um, I love collaborating with coaches I hasn't happened yet, but I really see that like for me personally I'll go to these coaches. I'll go to these teams and say hey I can really help your players out and here's the proof because I have 70 players that are performing Absolutely great right now if I um Excuse me If I get one of your teams Two of your teams three of your teams and I just support the coach and what the coach wants your players will perform better Right, so so that's that's one way another way. I see it Position specific training Yeah Players specific training right, um Players don't understand their positions 100% And then when I say position specific They can learn their position right now Will it be their position for the rest of their game? Probably not Are they going to switch from a sentiment to a right wing from a right wing to a striker? Before a kid is like 13 14 even even when they're 18 They can switch from a from a striker to a center mid right so But we start with one position at a time, right? Like what are they playing right now? Help them understand that position To their best ability and to our best ability Then move on to another position that might be next to them that they have to work with And then maybe oh, yeah, I got played as a center mid today I have no idea what's the most important thing for a center mid Apparently I'm not checking my shoulders enough like you know So I see position specific and like, you know one-on-one training going really far Yeah, that's awesome. So if if a trainer Came up to you and said Raymond. I want to I want to start a business Like yours. What would you say to them? um, I would say Would you do it for free? Would you would you do it for free because Of like my start. I think I had like maybe two three months where I just did it because I loved it I did it because I saw I I can improve these players and I can help these players And through that process I realized that I can make a living doing this Right, so I think I would ask them first if they could if they would do it for free right not only because of that but because You know, I hope to get to a point where one day, you know money is an issue for me And if money is not an issue then you can give back and and go to your job Quote on quote. This is a this is a job by the way. All right. This doesn't feel like a job, but it's a job All right, um go to your job and be happy and do it for free You know and so and and like scholarship players and all these things and so I would ask them if they would They would be able to do it for free And if they say no They say no, then I'm like, what would you be able to do for free? What do you love doing that you would do for free? We'd go into another subject or something, you know Yeah Perfect. So when when a new client joins your program What what do you look for? What's the first thing you look for when a player joins you? Um, when the player comes to the training session, right I look for Are they having fun? Right Are they giving their best effort? So Basically having fun means do they love the game? Can I show them the game so they can love the game and are they giving their best effort? I'll give you an example. I have uh two girls. They're twins, right? They they came to me a little bit like a little in your show a little bit, um You know kind of like they they I you kind of felt they wanted to be there But maybe mom pushed them a little bit just a little bit just to show up, you know and like Whatever They they've been coming for 10 training sessions, right? The the difference that I've seen in them has it just it's beautiful. It's it's really beautiful because All I've been doing is putting them in situations to succeed I've been I've been showing them. Hey, this is the goal. We'll score in the goal Right, and then you'll see them after they scored it You know where before it was kind of just like I don't know if I'm good enough. I'm like I can't kick this ball here. I I can't do it. It's hard like I just So difficult, right? and then now you see them Battling defensively like getting into the position like they transition so well to defending and most players they don't really transition to defending very well But these girls specifically are transitioning very well and then any time they scored But when they started it was very like meh Meh, you know, but now it's like they found it, you know when you when you find that like Hey, I love scoring goals. Hey, I love winning Right when you find that it's so beautiful that that process for me is is absolutely amazing. I love it Also, I love the game and give your best effort is really, you know, it's what you do for perfect So tell us a bit about your Your sales and marketing process then how how do you market and how do you sell your business? So How I sell my business is I have the parents sell the business for me Right word of mouth is huge. I'm um, I'm a big I connect with people very well. That is one of my strong suits Um through those connections with the players of course first the players, right? And then the parents The parents have just been like, you know some some people they tell People two years ago that hey, you know, there's this trainer in town. He's doing really good Like I would recommend you go to him These people don't come to until two years later Right, some people it takes one week some people And in the second you tell them they're gonna give you a call other people take a long time, right? So it's it's all like like basically trust the process for me. It's it's the parents I It's the parents and the proof of um Product right like the product itself is is saying something Facebook and My website that that of course I think it helps a lot right because when when parents have a clear reference of like, oh Okay, this is who he is. This is what he's doing. This is you know, yeah They see a video. They see the photos and come try it out, right? And it helps right So so that's important. Um another one though, right? This is actually the key right here for my for my huge growth right now. Um I partnered up with the facility that I used to work for Right. So remember they're recreational players that want to go competitive, right? Once they are competitive players They leave that program That's how solo football actually kind of got started is because Players were leaving that program and go in the club and I'm like hold on. There's like so much more work to be done here Yeah, right. So so right now Here's basically once they reach level three, which is the highest level The the coaches I've gotten like really good with the coaches and the the owners and the like program director That they're all referencing those players that are competitive They're all learning how to solo Okay So so now it's like we have this little like feeder system Where this program is, you know, once they we reach the highest level They're competitive players and then they start at solo and then we start building up Okay, also So how do you build a partnership like that? Um, I worked hard. I I did a lot. Um in terms of I was Coaching at their facility, right? And then when I was taking a step back from coaching anytime they needed me to help And I was available. I was always helped, right? Um that facility in general They needed referees sometimes anytime they need a ref they call me. I'll go and I'll referee and I'll I'll build rapport, right? I'll do I'll do the uh, I'll do the work and then Enjoy the work I'm doing and then, you know, give give many thanks and I help them, you know Just little bits here and there like for example I live and I live like 20 30 minutes away from the facility they They buy some some clothes From from like a warehouse over here. I'll go pick it up and I'll drop it off because it's just like on my way I'll do these little things and I'll help out and then next thing, you know, one thing leads to another And it's that story is beautiful. Actually It's beautiful because You know, there's a there's a division one college over here, right? Uh, San Diego state university against not against each other, but it was competition, right? Like who's gonna be able to work at this facility? Okay, right. He's like I didn't even know that I was in competition with this guy And and it's a friendly call. It's not like I'm trying to bring him down. He's trying to bring me down. It's like, no What can I offer? yeah and They the facility actually came to me and was like, hey like You know, you're doing part your your training. We want to work with you And I was it was kind of like a moment for me where I was like wow like All the hard work I've done has really helped me out Paying off big time because I didn't even know this was an opportunity They came to me and they presented it to me and we've made an agreement and it's just been it's just been amazing, you know They're building a seven versus seven Yeah four versus four Like they're expanding their turf, right? The construction starts next week Once that happens my program goes there and it's it's a full feeder system That's amazing. Well, congratulations Thank you for that and now how long did that that partnership Take to to work to get to where it is now Three years Three and a half years three years. Yeah Yeah and then It's it's it's funny because the this partnership should have Happened like six months ago, right? But you know things things happen that are out of your control like you you cannot control Delays on the city or construction or Whatever it is, right? You just have to deal with it, right? Like you whatever your starting point is do your best. That's all you can do. Yeah It's been uh It's it has been two and a half three years and you know looking back. It's like what a what a great like You know what a great process. I think uh, it was worth it, right? Worth it for sure worth it. It's still we're even if uh Like I said, even if the worst-case scenario it doesn't happen. I still have a feel I still have more like a Like a backup plan essentially, you know And um, it's just it's beautiful. The process is amazing. I would every uh every step of the way All right every day the moments you just learn and you just keep moving forward you learn you keep moving forward I look at it like every day is a new starting point Every day you start wherever you are and you just have to do your best to improve That's it no matter if you have a high starting point that day or a low starting point that day You have to start where you're at and just give you a best effort. That's all Yeah Completely agree. I completely agree. So Raymond my my last question for you then Where do you see sorrow football academy in the next five years from now? That's a that's a great question That's a great question. I see um I see sorrow football academy running camps Every school break running camps Right, um during those camps, you know talk about Have like a theme For each camp have a theme for each group because each group needs a different needs a different thing. Um In terms of the regular training program, I see Shermanic sessions like four training sessions five training sessions within one hour So I'm managing Coaches I'm teaching coaches. I'm coaching coaches It's actually part of my role right now With a much smaller part of my role because I don't have too many coaches. I need a coach now But I'm I'm really preparing myself for it um And how I'm doing that is helping. I'm a consultant for North County Soccer Park Skills Institute And I coach their coaches, right? So that's really helping me Learn how to teach Actual coaches, you know um So I see myself having you know, four or five training sessions within the same hour and managing all those coaches and players and Making sure everything's running smooth. Basically like how I like to describe it is like putting out fires If there's you know situation going on here help out with that situation another situation Go there and just kind of like I love my fire hose and I'm just Awesome, so do you have a specific goal the amount of players you want to have in your in your academy? Um, I'm taking it step by step now, right? Um, I want to reach a hundred players Right, but I would love to have three four or five hundred players You know, but um like right now my my immediate goal is I'm at 70 which is amazing. I would love to get to 100 That's also perfect. All right. Well, well things here Raymond for for jumping on or for sharing your story with and our audience our viewers our listeners and now if there's any coach that He's watching and he's inspired by your story and wants to follow you or even reach out to you What's the best way to do that? um instagram facebook or Or look on my website at soro football Correct. So soro football dot com or um, I think my instagram handle is soro football as well So if you look up, uh, soro football, you'll be able to find me on instagram and facebook and You know if anybody has any questions or has any comments or just wants It's like to make a friend or something right around around the game and stuff I'm more than willing to have these conversations. Like this is what I live for you know, so That's perfect. That's awesome That's awesome. And what we'll do is we'll put all of those all of your details On the bottom of the video so so people can reach out to you Perfect Leo. Thank you so much for uh for this interview. I really uh, I really like what you're doing This is uh, this is an amazing experience for me. This is actually my first experience ever Kind of talking about what I'm doing in this way and uh, I couldn't be more happy. This was this was awesome Leo, so thank you for uh for doing this No problem. Well, good luck with everything and I hope you reach your your 500 players In the next five years Yes, sir. Thank you so much. Leo. I really appreciate you. All right. Take care. I'm Awesome. You as well. Bye. Bye