What do I do now when I can’t already play soccer?

When an injury stops your sports career, it doesn’t mean necessarily it’s the end of your labor life.

 

The photos of this entry have been provided by Martín Castañeda who is the model too. For contacting him, check the story right below.

 

Martín Castañeda, 48, is looking for a job as personal trainer, bodyguard, and driver. Due to the existent economic crisis in Peru, this former pro soccer player decided to expand his job chances, so he told us his story hoped to somebody could hire him. “Work dignifies  people,” he states.

 

Castañeda is a Sullana, Peru-native. He began a productive career in soccer, in 1994, when he was 18 years old. He held active until 2010, when he was 36 years old, the moment when he was forced to retire because of an injury in the meniscuses of knee.

 

How did he deal with the injury after 16 years chasing a ball, that included to join Alianza Atlético, the emblematic pro soccer team of Sullana?  “I took it pretty relaxed because I was just finishing my career,” he says.

 

What he did OK

When you face a similar situation which you had a highlighted career in sports in general, and any circumstance forces you to stop, your choices will be ever to think it’s already the end, or reinventing yourself not leaving to do what you like to do, or adding other abilities you already had but what were not necessary to deploy once a time.

 

If you think it’s already the end, go here to read more tips.

 

If you chose to reinvent yourself, the plan that Martín Castañeda decided can serve you as a reference.

 

1. Turn on your lamp – Being a competitive athlete is ever going to put the spotlight on you, but when you’re out, that lamp is going to be turned off for other new talents to occupy the place you occupied. It’s a life rule, you can’t do much against it… or maybe you do. Turn on that lamp again but this time holding your whole legacy under your arms and a good story to tell based upon your achievement and experience.
2. Become trendy – The social media allow that any retired athlete follows keeping in it if somebody knows how to keep a close, warm relationship with his community of followers. And if you don’t haveany? Do what Martín did – meet some specialist who have followed your career, who has the skill to hold you in, so no matter if you are not in activity, you will be indeed in the active mind of everybody. It’s called… marketing.
3. Open up your chances – This is a time of your life which you don’t have already to focus your full time on one only activity, but you can add others more which you have trained or which you have proven experience. If you don’t have it clear, do like Martín did – he sat down to talk to one of our producers, he began to think about himself and his talents, and he could define in the process he could be an excellent personal trainer, an skillful security agent, a right driver. Explore these things you do well too, these can turn in a way to pay your bills, including your sport abilities. Everything counts.

 

What he must do now

A Martín Castañeda’s comparative advantage is he met ChulucanasGym, then he told his story. That is going to provide him international exposure and it’s a good play because the people who come toward Peruvian Northern are going to contact him directly for taking any of the services he provides. We are going to leave his contact later.

 

In fact, this article is a big step but it’s not enough so what it’s coming up next counts as much as what he did up to this moment.

 

1. Acquaint yourself to technology – your social media accounts give you exposure but they also must allow you to talk directly to the people who are going to take your services, and that means you must develop skills for that contact to be made in a kind, friendly environment. If you get that contact to talk to you through any chat application, it’s an extra point. But remember – never be impatient, remind the smiles are for free to give but they end to reward you worthy at the less-expected moment.
2. Provide an excellent service – We repeat that if you get to close a deal, give your best for the experience working with somebody else hiring you to be satisfactory in every sense, since the moment both say hello until the moment both say a see-you, and that to start a long-term relationship. Don’t push the people to hire your or to follow hiring you – let the things to flow naturally. A user who feels to take the control of the situation uses to turn a satisfied user, and that means he can recommend you to his contact list, what will be a better advertisement than the best pic, the best vid, or the best written copy.
3. Don’t let they miss you – Do you remember that about don’t let to turn off the lamp what we suggested you in the beginning? The fact you have engaged with somebody doesn’t mean you can chant victory. In the opposite, that means you must grow a relationship which you make to highlight every certain time. How? Look for special moments (birthdays, holidays) to send a greeting and remind you are ever available. Or sometimes, setting a good conversation asking for the mood of that user uses to come good, especially in these times when it seems the stress is going to swallow us. And never push – let everything to flow organically.

 

Thanks, Martín, for trusting us, we hope those tips serve him as well as yourself. If you want to contact him, go to his Facebook and WhatsApp profiles.

 

If you want to share your story with us, or learn more insights about this issue, contact us by Twitter, WhatsApp, or write us at chulucanasgym@gmail.com