Monthly newsletter - March 2025
Hello ballers,
Welcome to the March edition of my monthly newsletter. If you missed any of the previous months, you can check them out here: https://strivefootballacademy.com/blog
What a crazy month it’s been - let me fill you in…
Football Camps
Easter is now just around the corner - in fact, it’s ONE WEEK AWAY!
Our football camp will run from Monday 7th April - Thursday 17th April.
All details, as always, can be found at the link below.
https://strivefootballacademy.com/football-camps
Baller League
Where to start?! I ended up getting picked in the first round of the Draft by Simon (Sidemen member ‘Miniminter’) who is head of M7 FC. We had our first game last Monday against Ian Wright and Chloe Kelly’s ‘Wembley Rangers AFC’ and won 3-2, grabbing myself a goal and an assist. Our next game is tonight against Alisha Lehmann and Maya Jama’s ‘MVP’s United’. All games are live streamed on YouTube and Twitch for free and on Sky Sports from around 5pm. I also do a little ‘matchday Vlog’ showing my experience, which you can view here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LniwaJSnAv0
It’s all a bit of a whirlwind and a bit chaotic - but that is what makes it exciting and fun!
Football Chat
It’s been an international break for the last 10 days or so - which sparks the debate ‘Is it a waste of time’?
I can see it from both sides: yes, players need to play together and the managers need to try players, formation, tactics etc. However, from an ‘entertainment’ point of view - I find club football so much interesting and enjoyable to watch - bar major international tournaments.
What do you think?
Let’s talk about another debatable topic: the Ballon D’or. Should trophies come into the equation when deciding the winner? I can understand it when comparing Messi and Ronaldo for example. They were both clearly the best two players in the world so if one player cleans up during that season then it makes sense.
However, I do think that not everything in football can be objective and some if it is subjective. For example: for me, Messi is the best player ever. Yes he won pretty much everything he could, but it’s more about how he plays, the way he manipulates the ball, the impact he has on teammates and opponents - a lot of which cannot be put into numbers.
So, that being said, my shortlist for the Ballon D’or is: Kane, Raphinha, Lamine Yamal, Vini Jr. and Dembele. That’s off the top of my head but no one else comes to mind really.
Did I miss anyone?
Worth a watch
Watch my vlog of the behind the scenes of Baller League game 1
https://youtu.be/LniwaJSnAv0?si=Nvf4laRJlyawd5iT
Messi continues to score in the MLS!