Live India, Love Football

My experience going on business trips within India has completly transformed. During the initial year and a half, I was still growing my name and credibility within the Indian sports Industry. It felt like most of my trips were to sell myself to the people I was meeting and then sell whatever property or service I was actually trying to sell. It was exhausting, but I knew it was just something that one has to go through when moving to a completely different place. But now things are exactly how I dreamed they would be, how it was in the US after many years at MLS building relationships and credibility. I go on business trips that feel more social than business and I now have access to key people, places and events. Recently I went to Pune to see the final of the Manchester United Premier Cup. The whole day was special. Flew in and had lunch with Kushal Das, General Secretary of that AIFF, Viswajeet Kadam, head of the AKFDC Academy and representatives of Nike India. From th...

A few months ago my client at Conscient Football and I were discussing options for an "Exposure Trip" we were planning for a group of Delhi based youth footballers.  The obvious locations came up; Manchester, London, Milan, Madrid, Munich, etc... But then Barcelona was mentioned and it was obvious that the meeting was over right then and there. There were no other options.  Barcelona is located in the country that just won the most recent FIFA World Cup, is home to the best football club in the world and home to the best football player in the world.  Why would we take the players anywhere else??? So fast forward to May 12th.  I'm at Indira Gandhi airport in Delhi with 3 other staff members meeting with 27 sets of parents and assuring them that their little princes will be fine.  I'm holding passports, collecting forms, smiling widely, shaking hands and doing my best to exude confidence and responsibility.  Somehow we get the 27 players thr...

My dream is simple; I dream that India qualifies for the FIFA World Cup.  This may seem superficial, but I know that in laying out the path to achieve this dream great sports programs will be created, quality infrastructure will be built, coaches will be developed and role models will be born.  Also, I know that the opening kick off of India's first FIFA World Cup match will be the strongest unifier this subcontinent has ever experienced; bigger than, I dare to say, the recent ICC Cricket World Cup Final. So here I am in India working on achieving this dream every day.  Through meetings, presentations, pick up matches, conference calls, roundtables, etc...  Dentsu India were the first to provide a platform for me to enter India. Through Dentsu India I learned about Indian business and sport and worked with some of the top advertisers in the country. I have now joined Libero Sports India.  This is a group solely focused on professionalizin...

Another post that has nothing to do with football and has everything to do with friendship and adventure. My friends Steve and Dana are travelling around the world for 9 months and stopped in India for a few weeks.  Fortunately they spent a good portion of those 3 weeks in Delhi and I hosted them in my little room during that time.  We had a blast and instead of me re-creating the experience, I've included a link to Steve's blog in which he beautifully describes their time in India: http://morrisandcrary.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/thank-you-come-again/ My message is that there is something unique about hosting close friends in India; it's inevitable that you will form an unbreakable bond with the people you share this beautiful country with.  

First off, I've heard that people are actually reading this blog. People that don't just include my best friends and family. I must admit that it is truly amazing to have a platform to share my life in India to the public and have the public actually read about my life in India.  Anyway, today is June 26 and my last blog post was May 11. The last month and a half has been the most enjoyable and interesting month and a half for me specific to Indian football and it's unfortunate that I wasn't keeping up this blog throughout all the fun. I'm going to do my best to capture it all over the next couple of posts...

The other day I did something that I always wanted to do.  I had the opportunity to speak with 500 Indian High School students about careers in sports marketing. A friend of mine is a counselor at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok and she asked me to speak at their Career Fair.    The things we get nervous about are funny. I can walk in front of 3,000 adults and deliver a speech without a single butterfly in my stomach, but put me in front of a bunch of high school students and all of my childhood anxieties begin to surface. Will they like me? Will they laugh at my accent? Will they even pay attention to what I'm saying? I prepared for the presentation for 2 days straight. I even delivered it in front of one of my colleagues to get his feedback. On the day of the career fair I showed up and was immediately ushered into the auditorium. It was filled to the brim with bored students, stale heat and fans that were making way too much noise.  When they welcomed me up on...

I'm not sure when or how it happened, but I've started to become a long distance runner. I haven't even run my first full marathon yet, but I now understand the positive impact that having a long distance event in your future has on your present. By this I mean that when I know that I'm going to be running a half marathon or full marathon sometime in the next 6 months, I treat my body differently leading up to that run. Plus I no longer have any issues waking up at 5am every morning for yoga sessions, long runs or cross training. Without the race in my future, I would be crawling out of bed at 8am and rushing to work while stuffing an aloo paratha in my mouth and washing it down with a cup of masala chai. Humans are funny.  I remember when I crossed the finish line after running the Delhi half marathon and said to myself that I would never run a full marathon. I also remember a week later when I wrote to my friend Ethan Zohn requesting that I get put on the Grassroot ...