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Day 13 of Independent Study

January 23rd, 2018  Today I did my final presentation at the intensive fair. I think this was the moment where I truly realized how my goals shifted from trying to just get exposure in the sports world, to really trying to help this club grow. I think the most important conversations I had on this trip were with Yogesh talking to him about the struggles to advance the club. The lack of infrastructure, planning on money, makes it very hard to do business in the world of football, but he's committed. And although he has a million things to worry about it, he still makes sure the club upholds its values. While the social media experience was great and all, the conversations that I had there definitely taught me a lot about culture, and the struggles in developing countries. I'm certain that if I worked at an MLS team here in the United States, I would have a very different experience. I think the presentation went fine, the slideshow was informative, and the video that I help...
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Day 12 of Independent Study

January 14th, 2018  I came to this independent study wanting to get more exposed to the soccer world, and a proffessional setting in general. I wanted to get more experience working in this field, as it may be something I look to pursue in the future. But I think what I came away with was way different. I actually developed a connection with the club of Fateh Hyderabad AFC. When I talked to Yogesh Maurya about the club's principles and goals, while also looking at their limitations it made me care a lot. It's hard to see a club at the place they're at with the values that they do. But I've also seen a lot of improvement, in the partnerships they've gained and the accomplishments they've gotten on the field. So I'm hopeful. There are a lot of religious tensions in the city of Hyderabad, as there exists both Muslim people and Hindu people. But the tension doesn't exist within the club; they celebrate inclusivity. I think that's important, and in the...
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Day 11 of Independent Study

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January 13, 2018  Today was my last day at Fateh Hyderabad AFC. I launched some social media posts on each platform and put a few more engaging posts in the Facebook community group chat. I'm glad I got a chance to not only start up this group on facebook and get it going, but also come up with intriguing posts across all social media. Like I've said this club is great with great people, and I will continue to update their facebook page for the foreseeable future because I enjoy doing it and helping these people. I said my final goodbyes to Abhik, Tim, and Yogesh three of my favorite people I met. Tim was key in helping me with graphic design, and I also helped him create some slideshow and presentations for introduction day at the club. Abhik was the reason I came here and always made me feel at home. Yogesh is one of the most interesting people I've ever met, and I hope to stay in contact with him; he's a very respectable guy. Overall coming into work was always a ...
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Day 10 of Independent Study

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January 13, 2018  As the pre-season kicks off there's a lot of formalities that have to be taken care of. I spent a lot of the day printing and scanning copies of the players' ID's while recording them. It was kind of funny how nervewracking it was because everyone was waiting for their copy. It's a simple task, but I just felt like I was under immense pressure. I sent out some copies of the player rules, restrictions, and fines. Like I said, a lot of today was just kind of getting the final preparations in. At the end of the day, I finally got to get going on social media. I spent a lot of time promoting the facebook group. Posed a lot of questions and polls. Because Abhik told me he wanted to keep the group focused, and not just like any other football group, I made sure the questions related to either the club or Indian football as a whole. Some of the questions I posted today are "what do you think Yogesh Maurya should emphasize in training", and "...
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Day 9 of Independent Study

January 12th, 2018  Today was my 9th day at Fateh Hyderabad AFC. Today was pretty interesting. Once I heard that Technical and Sporting Director (and head coach as ofnow) Yogesh Maurya was doing the season-opening introduction, I knew had to queee my posts up on social media, and have them post automatically. This presentation that Yogesh did took up most of the day, so I didn't get much time to work personally, but it was still a cool experience to see how he presented himself to the players for the first time. Many of the players were new, so I'm sure he made quite the impression. He started off by describing the acronym PROFESSIONALISM and going through a slideshow breaking each letter down. A lot of the letters related to hard work, effort, mental toughness, focus, and respect. You could tell by the way he was speaking that he really wanted to get the most out of his players. He let them know what percentage of people in India get to play professional soccer, and how the...
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Day 8 of Independent Study

January 11th, 2018  Today was my eigth day of working with Fateh Hyderabad AFC. Today I got to listen to some of the negotiations that were going on between our technical and sporting director Yogesh Maurya, and the Uzbeki player that I mentioned in the previous entry. Like I said before, I wasn't truly apart of these negotiations, I was only apart of the scouting process, but it was cool to listen to him having the  negotiations nonetheless. Today I interacted with the facebook group a little more, and thought of a good idea to try to advertise it. I advertised in some other football groups that I joined on my personal account.  My goal is to get 100 members by the time I leave, which may be a bit ambitious, since we're sitting at 56 right now. However the growth rate in the past week has been pretty good so I think it is a realistic target. I made a social media post on instagram, twitter, and Facebook, with kids from the grassroots program and a caption saying "the ...
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Day 7 of Independent Study

January 10th, 2018 Today was one of the most interesting days at Fateh Hyderabad AFC. The owner and technical director Yogesh Maurya came into the office again today. As I've said in previous entries, he's a very respectable guy. Right when he came in he started talking about a potential player acquisition from Uzbekistan. The player's agent contacted him, and before we could get any negotiations underway we had to scout him. It was cool because today my responsibilities shifted from social media to player acquisition, something that's a little bit more exciting. To get a proper estimate on how much money we want to offer for the player, we had to do a lot of research not only on the player himself, but the league in which he plays and the history of Uzbekistani football. Every stat he's produced, every goal he's scored, has to be put into context. And the context turned out to be pretty good. I can't give too much away because a lot of this is confidenti...
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