Inside the Pro Game : Football with RicFit

One of the best conversations I have ever had with a great dude. Jared is a 24-year-old defensive midfielder or center back originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, where he grew up playing academy soccer. He started his college career at Georgetown in 2013, where he stayed for one season before transferring to Wake Forest University. In 2017, Jared signed his first pro contract with the Charlotte Independence in the USL. After a tough season dealing with a nagging groin injury, he wanted to play consistently. Jared had a friend recommend for him to go play in Sweden to further develop his game. In 2018, Jared returned back to the US to play with Tormenta FC before heading back for another stint in Sweden. In September 2019, Odenbeck signed for the NISA side Stumptown Athletic, located in Charlotte, where he is currently playing. Jared shares some golden nuggets in the podcast, and I am sure you will love this one. Tune in for a LONG & DEEP conversation. Find Jared on Instagram @jaredodenbeck and on Twitter @JaredOdenbeck. He’s a great dude and I am sure, if you reach out, he will be more than willing to guide you in the right direction.

Conor O’Keefe is a 24 year old goalkeeper originally from Macclesfield, England, who is currently playing for Europa Point FC in the Gibraltar Premier League. Conor spent most of his footballing career in England, with a stint as well in Madrid Spain. As he finished off his youth team contract with Macclesfield, he took the opportunity to study and play football at the prestige Loughborough University. After he graduated, he signed with Europa Point FC in the Gibraltar Premier League. If you would like to get in contact with him, he is always open to answering questions. You can get in touch via Instagram @con_okeefe1 or through his YouTube Channel; (which has 19k subscribers) @Conor O’Keefe.

Andrew is a 25 year old keeper originally from Liverpool, England. He grew up in the Liverpool Academy before moving to play at Macclesfield Town, where he signed his first pro contract. Unfortunately, he was released from Macclesfield when his 18 month contract ran out. After that at 18, he thought it was his time to hang up his boots. Eventually he found out about an opportunity in Sweden through the League Football Education program in Sweden. 3 weeks after being released from Macclesfield, he was on a plane to Sweden. He signed a contract in the sixth tier of Swedish football to get the love back for the game. After 3 months with the team, he made a move to Friska Viljor in the fifth tier of Sweden. After helping them to promotion, he made a move to the fourth tier club IFK Östersund. Luckily enough for him, he got an opportunity with the premier league team in the same city (Östersunds FK) to join them for a 1 month loan after one of their keepers’ got injured. He was then named on the bench for several of Östersunds’ Europa League qualifying matches (against clubs like Galatasaray & Arsenal). After impressing on his loan spell, Andrew secures a permanent deal with the club. He went front training 2-3 times per week to being back to full-time. As you will clearly here in the podcast, Andrew talks several times about being ready for the opportunity when it comes, and no matter what League you are in, you need to be training and have the mindset like you are in the first League. As he clearly states, football is a 24/7 job and you can not expect to make big moves if you don’t treat it as such. If you want to get in touch with Andrew; shoot him a message on Instagram @andrewmills2.

Steven Enna is a 24 year old striker originally from Kansas City, Missouri who is currently playing in the 1st Division (Second Tier) in Denmark for FC Fredericia. Steven grew up playing in the Sporting Kansas City academy and played his college soccer at Drake University. Steven earned his Master’s while at Drake, but Steven wanted more from the game. Steven always knew he wanted to play professionally but never knew how to go about it after college if left undrafted. He reached out to a friend of his, and found out about AX Soccer Tours, which is a combine where you can play and show your ability in front of Professional Coaches from Europe. After doing well over 3 days, he was invited to Denmark for a trial. After the 10 day period, he proved his worth and signed his first pro contract. He is really enjoying his time so far in Denmark and his team is doing very well in the league. Give this episode a listen to hear one of the most positive guys I have ever met. There are many things to take away from this episode, but I think the most important part is how positive Steven is and how he looks at the bright side in every situation. Be sure to follow Steven on Instagram if you have any questions and to follow along with his journey @stennafc.

Darius is a 19 year old originally from Miami, Florida playing professionally in the Faroe Islands as a winger or a “10.” He always knew deep inside his heart that he would sign a professional contract. That being said, it wasn’t easy, he went through many trials and tribulations. He wasn’t sure if his dream was going to come to a reality but he kept putting in the work. Eventually he found out about a combine offered about 3 hours from his home town with AX Soccer Tours. He gave it his absolute all and after performing very well in a couple of trial matches, he was sent a direct contract. The coach from AX told Darius that he knew he was something special within the first 10 minutes of watching him. Give this episode a listen for some motivation and inspiration.

Great to have a good friend and one of the hardest workers that I’ve ever met back on the podcast. Andrew is a 24 year old Central Midfielder originally from Atlanta, Georgia. He just finished his season in the USL League One with the Chattanooga Red Wolves in Tennessee. In this podcast, we go into great depths about the mental side of the game, and how to handle failures, deal with obstacles and keep yourself on the path of being a true professional. If you want to learn more or talk more to Andrew, you can reach him on his Instagram @andrew_moullin or on his training page @amoullin_training.

Kaelon is a 24 year old centerback originally from Atlanta, Georgia who just finished up his 1st year as a professional in Iceland. Deservingly enough, he was named the player of the year. After undergoing many “no’s” and many hard times, he could have easily quit, but NO, he persisted and kept working. He knew what he wanted. He wanted to sign a professional contract and after many hard months, that opportunity finally came. When the opportunity came, he grabbed it with both hands and ran with it! Take a listen. If this doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what will.

Kyle McLagan is a 23 year old professional footballer originally from Kansas City, Missouri who is currently playing in the first league (second tier) in Denmark for FC Roskilde, and is currently in his second season with the team. His journey was quite a special one, and it just shows that if you know where you want to go and you have the goal in mind, and you do everything in your power to get their day in day out, you wolle eventually get there! If you’d like to reach out to him, he’s @kyleclags on Instagram. Enjoy this one!

Eric is a 23 year old striker/winger who is originally from St. Louis. He is currently playing for JK Trans Narva in the Estonian Premier League. Before this year, he played for 2 years at Xavier University and 2 years at UMKC. After being recognized at the PSC combine, he got two offers to play professionally; one in Malta and the other in Estonia, which he jumped on right away. In his first year professionally, he has been super successful. He has 7 goals and 6 assists in 23 games. When you listen to this talk that we had you will notice how disciplined he is and how his mindset is top-class and I am sure you will see him at the top some time soon. If you want to connect with him, the best way is through Instagram @ericmcwoods.