 I played football, soccer, I guess, from the age of probably three years old till now I currently still play, just kind of more so for fun. But I started coaching my dad's an academy coach as well. So he coaches at an academy here in Edmonton, Edmonton, Canada. And from there, I mean, I was helping him from about the age of, well, 13, 14. So I've been coaching for about seven, eight years and before I started the business. And it was actually funny. It was kind of during that COVID time, a lot of people are kind of figuring out what they wanted to do. I, myself, I was playing in Europe football and I was kind of on defense about what I wanted to do. And I was on FaceTime with one of my old friends who was based somewhere else. And he'd mentioned that after the call he was going to coach some kids in a private session. And then he said, hey, Fran, you should think about coaching. Like I think you'd suit her perfectly. So really then from there I got the idea kind of in my head. Just for fun, I kind of made up a website and kind of tossed some things back and forth. I have a background also in kinesiology. So biomechanics and movements and stuff like that from through university. And then I kind of linked the two together and thought, you know what? I might as well give this kind of a go. So created the website, put together a social media page. It took me about five to six months to totally kind of put myself out there and do it. But I guess long story short, that's kind of how I got into the business of the private sector in terms of soccer training. That's perfect. So tell us a bit about what your business is called and what you guys specialize in. Yeah, so it's SAP training systems, soccer and performance training systems is kind of what it stands for as well as to play on my name. My name is Francesco Saperito. So kind of put two and two together. And we specialize in private football or soccer training. So it's all focused on individual player development. So providing the skills and the techniques necessary to compliment the team training and team games that players go to with their clubs or their academies. And we specialize in one-on-one and semi-private training. So whether there's a group of players that come to us for sessions and train together, as well as camps and clinics, which again are all focused, the whole total training focus is that individual player development, right? So it gives the players a different type of platform where they can come out. They don't have to worry about, you know, their club coaches making decisions if they're playing on the weekend. They're free to learn, you know, the new techniques and skills that we teach them, implement them, learn from their mistakes. And then hopefully at some point be able to implement them in their team training and games so that, you know, creates success for them as a player. That's nice. So how long have you been running your business? So I guess, you know, with the COVID type thing, I mean, it was during COVID of 2021 at the beginning, was where kind of the idea started going. And then I'd say we kind of got more, I got more into full coaching probably April or May. It was May of 2021. So it's been about almost two and a half, it's been two and a half years now. So. Amazing. Amazing what the pandemic has done. Because it, so many businesses were created as a result of it. That's nice. What's been your biggest obstacles that you've faced since you started the business? I think there's been a lot, but actually it's funny enough. I think presently I have the, you know, the beautiful problem of actually having too many players or too many individual parties looking for training from me personally, which is a great problem to have. But now it's figuring out ways of distributing the work, whether it's on the field. So it's, you know, hiring of new coaches and distributing those responsibilities to someone else that is just as high of a caliber of training as I am able to provide personally, that I pride myself in. So there's that as well as hiring of different other types of responsibilities off the field, I guess. So such as, you know, social media stuff, email marketing campaigns, you know, that kind of stuff, which, you know, right now for the most part I wear all the hats, but I'm just in the problem of hiring a new coach, which has started, it's actually done really well, but that's probably been the biggest obstacle actually I've faced so far is trying the best, finding the best way of expanding the business so that it's not just me, my name, my head wearing the same, all the hats and being able to, and as I said, kind of distribute the work so that it's just as high of a quality as if I was doing it. Nice. So how many kids do you guys train or do you train on a weekly basis? So our audience get a feel of your business, how big it is. Yeah, so I say on a semi-regular basis and that's where you see players at least two to three times a month, usually twice a month as we consider, you know, regular to an extent. We see 44 players who are on packages or subscriptions. Again, in a private and semi-private environment. So again, that's either one coach, one player, up to six players and one coach at a time. Nice. So that's on like a semi-regular basis. And then over the last 12 months, I guess since last, more so since last December, we've had 254 players attend camps or clinics. Whoa. Yeah, and those can include players who are also, because a lot of the players who take part in the private sector of our business will attend camps. So those numbers can be included in that. But yeah, there was 254 players in the camps and clinics over the last 12 months as well. That's amazing. So obviously a lot of coaches want that problem that you have of too many players. So tell us a little bit, how did you get to the point where you're in that position that you're having a lot of players? What can you share with us a couple of strategies or tips that other coaches can implement to get to where you are currently? Yeah, I think one of the biggest things is, one, it's my passion for the sport. So I love football, soccer. I watch it on a weekly basis. I play still even myself again. It's just a fun type league in a sense. It's still fairly competitive, but I play. But again, it's just that passion for the sport. I've been playing football as I mentioned since I was about three years old. And I think that's first and foremost, I think people see the passion I have for the sport when I coach, as well as like the why in terms of, at the same time, as I mentioned, my buddy told me to start coaching and introduced me to the idea. But then it kind of developed into the idea of being able to give players the opportunities or be able to provide them with a platform to earn the opportunities to go out and play football in a different environment and learn the life skills. And, you know, because for me personally, I moved away at 14 to play for a professional academy. I moved from Edmonton where we are about an hour's flight away to Vancouver, BC, Canada to play for the Vancouver White Caps MLS Pro Academy. And then during that time, I was able to play for the Canadian national team at a youth level. I then was able to go to the US and play. And with the Canadian national team and the White Caps, we would compete in different areas of the country. In the US, in Canada, we would travel to Mexico, to Europe, to South America to play in competitions and play against different types of players. And then as I said, I was lucky enough to earn a full ride scholarship as well to a US college and play for four years, then play. So again, all these kinds of experiences that I had is what turned me into the player or the person that I should say I am today. And I think I'm super, super, super fortunate that I was given the basis when I was young to have the skills to go and do that. But then again, it's being able to learn and experience all the different types of things and meet new people, develop relationships that I still have today. So all my best friends, I came from football. And all the best memories I have, 90% of the best memories I have probably again are related to something involving football and soccer. So again, it's being able to, whenever I coach, I do my best to be able to share one, the passion, but also to, again, give the players the sense what football could bring you, what being good at a sports help you learn, what all that kind of stuff. And I think that's a couple of the things that's helped me, that's definitely one of the biggest things that's helped me get to the point I am today is just being able to share the passion. And then also too, as I mentioned, like I watch a lot of football, I do a lot of football type education too. So being able to implement the things that I've learned, I think my coaching is a lot different than what a lot of other coaches in our area will be able to provide, since I've had it also because of the education I have and my willingness to learn and my openness to learn all the time. So I would say those are two of the biggest things for sure that's helped me get to this kind of place that I'm at. So yeah, that's what I would say. That's amazing. And also you've made a really good point when you mentioned the word experience because I speak to a lot of coaches that wanna start a business, but they don't have that coaching experience. They've probably gone onto Instagram seeing that it's something cool to start and they just wanna jump into it. So talk to us a little bit about what the importance of being experienced or working, playing at different levels, how important that is to then being able to run a business full-time. Yeah, I think like you mentioned, Leo, I think like you said, a lot of players, I don't think being able to go into coaching and be a good coach comes from just playing the game. I think personally, even myself, I have a specific type of, I guess, character and personality to be able to play and then being able to transfer what I've experienced as a player into coaching for younger players too, right? And being able to, it's kind of nice because you get a mix of both. You have the experience as assistant coach, you can do in coaching myself when I was younger. And then my dad, as I mentioned, is a coach so I'm able to run a lot of ideas and stuff off of him and I've been able to see him implement his principles and stuff for a long time. And I think I got kind of that character to be able to coach from him as well. That was a big portion of it. But again, I think it's a big thing of being able to understand when you coach, you have that experience from a younger age and then up till the age you are now, you're able to implement, like I said, the things you learn to different types of age groups and then you're able to adapt your coaching style. Again, from a personal, from a private training sector, you're working with one player, up to four players, up to maybe six players, different ages, different skill levels and being able to adapt and be flexible so that each player that attends your training gets this specific type of training they need, I think is a really hard skill to learn. And even myself, I'm definitely still learning that skill now but being able to coach and train, a nine-year-old versus coaching a 20-year-old who's in university is much different and being able to, having been in both of their shoes, again, being nine-years-old was a little bit longer ago than I, than 20-years-old, but again, being able to put yourself almost in their shoes, think about maybe a little bit how they're thinking, thinking about the skills and techniques they need at that age versus maybe a 20-year-old's age, that kind of thing, I think that's one of the biggest skills that I've developed and I'm still learning today but that's definitely something that's important. And again, as I mentioned too, I have a background in movements with my kinesiology degree. I'm also a certified athletic development specialist, so it's actually a certification that allows you to work with youth from the ages of two up to 17. And it's that too, that sort of education, I think played a big role too in me learning, not only the things you need to do as a coach but also how to approach training with those younger generations and the younger kids and being able to explain things in a specific way. And again, I think it just comes with one education but also learning the process too and be open to learning and being flexible and being patient with yourself as well as I think with the players. Awesome, I can see the passion in you. Thanks, I appreciate that compliment, I'll take it. So obviously we've talked a lot about the coaching side which is obviously important in this type of industry but then talk to us a little bit about the business side, right, because again, a lot of coaches think that, oh, I'm a great coach, so that means I'm gonna have a great business. But the reality is you can be a really good coach but you have to understand the business side. So how did you learn the business side? What are a couple of things that you can give the coaches that are watching this video advice on? Well, the first bit of advice I'd be would be to join your guys program, make money coaching sports or the sports accelerator community. I think that's one thing for sure, especially as a new coach, something I wish I'd come across almost a little bit earlier because I think there's a lot of really valuable business side of things that you guys provide that has definitely helped me even, I've been like I mentioned earlier before even the call I've been in the program for about six months, just under six months I think but there's a lot of value in the community, there's a lot of value in the education you guys provide that'd be the first thing. But I think second two is what I did and I think that helped me a lot was reaching out to a lot of different professionals that are either in the space if you would or maybe in like a slightly different type of private sector space. So for example, like when I was reaching out to different types of people, I was reaching out to people who are owning businesses such as like a landscaping company, someone who owned a hair dressing company, someone who was a physiotherapist in the private sector, that kind of thing. And I reached out to a whole bunch of different individuals try to chat to them, someone who owned like a restaurant, I had different friends in different industries and just kind of get a sense of, because again at the end of the day, although they might be different services, I think the business side of things to an extent still apply to the business we, the business I run. So those would be the two biggest pieces of information I give is join the community, get involved with the classroom because you guys break down things like the insurance, the banking, lead generation really well, regardless, I think of what level your business is at, but also reach out to different types of professionals who might be in different industries and how they handle the business side of things, I guess too. Nice. So tell us a bit about your experience in the Sports Accelerator Program because there's a lot of coaches out watching, they hear me, Ben talk about it all the time and they're maybe on the fence, they're like, yeah, I don't think this is gonna work, this is a scam, but so tell us a bit about your experience and how it's helped you to grow and scale the business. Yeah, I think, as I mentioned even before, I think in terms of education firstly, you guys provide a lot of great things, as I mentioned, looking for insurance, how to organize your banking, how to generate leads, different things like that, there's a whole bunch of different things, how to run promotions, how to handle maybe social media, how to, as I mentioned, as I'm doing now, you know, generating the steps and the direction you need to hire someone. So I think that's the first thing that that's really great about. I think the second thing is, you know, at the beginning before I joined the community, I was always looking for people who were in the private sector space and being able to relay ideas off of them or be able to communicate with them about different things. But now you have, you know, one place that you can put stuff in and write stuff out such as questions or, you know, successes or challenges you're having. And a lot of you have all the people in there who are at some point, someone has probably went through the exact same experience that I'm looking to learn from now, right? So it just provides a big platform and a community, as we've said, that gives people like me the opportunity to put out ideas I have and what's in my mind and be able to have people I know that aren't gonna be judgmental, aren't gonna accept and are gonna be able to relate, I guess, to the thoughts and the ideas and the things that I have in my head that I put out there, right? Again, and then it's also to, you know, it's a great, you know, you'll post something in there and you'll get likes and you'll get comments and people who are trying to, again, go on to their way to help you. So I think majority of the coaches who are in this community are looking to improve. They're looking to help others improve because they, again, know the spots that others have maybe been in prior to because they've probably had the same experiences as you've had, right? So I think those are two of the biggest things that I've taken away from the community. That's awesome. So for anyone that's not in Canada at the moment, what's your opinion or where do you see the private training industry going, especially in Canada? Well, I think in Canada, yeah, I think in Canada, it'll only improve. I think us as a nation, you know, we have made good strides in terms of, you know, our football, especially recently, you know, we qualified for the men's World Cup. The woman won the Olympics a couple of summers ago. We're hosting joints with Mexico and the US, the World Cup in 2026. I think people will only recognize that the private training sector is beneficial for the players. I think, you know, again, the clubs and the academies and the teams, they do really, really great things. But being able to take a step back and focus on your individual developments as a player, I think people are recognizing that it's super, super important, you know, for example, like how to efficiently attack 1v1, how to defend 1v1, how to take, you know, how to control the ball out of the air, you know, being able to have that individual coaching approach and a coach who's watching to be able to break down the details of actually how to perform those skills, how to shoot the ball. That's one of the biggest things I would say that players are missing here, what from what I see is ball striking and shooting the soccer ball, whether it's that goal or to a teammate over a long distance, right? And I've had players who are, you know, 20, I had a friend of mine, she was a pro and she never, like she never learned how to properly strike the ball really before. We broke down the technique and, you know, from there, her shooting improved over a session and that was it, right? So I think players and parents and coaches are going to recognize how important it is, one, because of that, but also two, again, even, you know, outside of Canada, we're starting to see a lot of clubs, professional clubs, even higher, you know, personal trainers, personal coaches to work on the individual player. You have players, professional players going out of their way to, again, work with a private trainer to, you know, work on their shooting, work on their ball striking, work on their scanning and awareness, passing, we see that kind of stuff, right? Which I think will also transfer to the private sector here and people will see, right? So you have like a club like Arsenal from the ages of eight to 12, all they focus on for a lot of their development is, you know, the individual player and how they can improve that individual player to then work into the more tactics and more team-related environment later on, right? So I think just generally, you're just gonna see it grow. You're gonna see the popularity increase, especially if you get, you know, coaches who are passionate and, you know, love the game and really wanna give back and help out each individual player and give them the platform to grow and, you know, get into hopefully a better environment than where they're in now and progress, you know, not only as a player, but also just be able to progress, you know, in terms of life too. Awesome, awesome. So Francesco, tell us, where do you see your business in the next five years from now? You know, Leo, I have missions and I have goals and I have the values, but, you know, it's funny because if I looked, you know, two and a half years ago and I had set goals, like those would have been totally like out the wind, like I could have those six months from now and they could be totally different, right? But personally for me, you know, if I have to set goals, personally I'd like to have a space that's, we're in a great space now, but I'd like to have a slightly bigger space where we're able to train more sets of players at a time. So being able to lease such a space that's our own, especially here in Amateur in Canada, but it's cold for a long period of time and there's a lot of snow, a long time. So being able to have an indoor space especially, that's bigger, we're able to have the opportunity to work with more players at a time. I'd hope to have three to four additional coaches that are able to provide training for, you know, again, all the players that are looking for training and have it as high of a caliber as possible, so that they're able to, again, develop and, you know, progress their game and enjoy the game a little bit more, and be able to coach up to 60 players, I would say, weekly, and as well, being able to support, again, I played the college game, the university game in the U.S. and I think, again, that was one of the best decisions I made as a player. You know, I was at a point in my youth career where maybe I wasn't good enough to play pro or to step into the senior game and I think that the college and university game gave me a good stepping stone to be able to play the game at a good level, progress, mature as a person, earn my degree, and then go on and still be able to play in Europe, which I was lucky enough to be able to play semi-pro in full-time in Europe after that as well, right? And so being able to provide players the opportunity to be educated, I guess, about, especially here in Canada, about the university game, whether it's here in Canada, in the U.S., and be able to provide the education players need to know that it's a good step, this is how you do it, this is how you get recruited, this is how you should handle the first year, the fourth year, and maybe what you can look to beyond even that, but that's kind of a couple of goals, I guess I have for the business and just as personal goals, I guess, too, to be able to provide players, you know, again, that really good environment in those opportunities. Nice, that's awesome. Perfect. All right, well, Francesca, thank you for jumping on here, taking the time out to share your journey, share some really good advice with other coaches who watch the channel. If anyone wants to reach out to you to get your, you know, just to ask you questions, what is the best way they can do that? I'd say just check out our Instagram page. That'd be the best one. It's sap.training.systems, so sap.training.systems is our Instagram. That'd be the best way. Usually where, you know, we're most active in terms of, you know, chatting with people or posting things or that kind of stuff. So that's where I would say people to look out for or check out our website, I guess, sap and then trainingsystems.com, so. Perfect, okay, well, thanks again for jumping on. And hopefully my intent is to bring you on again in maybe six, 12 months time and see how your business has progressed from them. Well, awesome, yeah, I'd be happy to. Thanks, Leo. Awesome, okay, well, see you soon and see you in the next one. Awesome, thanks. Bye.