Maximilian Fischer

Ever since I was forced, by a long-term injury, to stop proceeding towards a career as a professional soccer player at the age of 14, I have the dream of becoming a manager for a professional soccer club. From then on I tried to do everything possible to reach my goal. I knew that I will need at least a Bachelor’s Degree and skills in leadership, business, and marketing. I also need to be able to implement those skills in an international environment of a professional soccer club with players and sponsors from all over the world with whom I need to be able to do business with.

 

            During my junior year in high school, I participated in the entrance examination (a sports aptitude test) at the leading sports university in Europe the “DSHS - Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln” (German Sports University Cologne). I took this test as a rehearsal for my final test during senior year but in the meantime, one of my teammates told me about his plans of coming to the United States in order to play soccer and study at an American university. I followed his recruiting procedure during my senior year and noticed several chances for me such as living in a different country, playing soccer in a professional surrounding, and the completion of a bachelor’s degree at the same time. I decided to follow my friend's example in order to accumulate important experiences to elevate myself from other German university graduates with the plan of working in the sports management business.

 

By now it was almost summer 2014 and I was just a month away from graduating high school. The fact that I won’t be able to walk through the process of recruiting and get all the legal documents together in time to start college in Fall 2014 came in handy for me. I had time to get a year off of school and I was able to gather work experience in several sectors such as reconstruction, sales, and utilities and energy while I had enough time to find a college, get a student visa, and book a flight to the US. By the end of February 2015, I received several emails from different coaches across the United States offering me a scholarship to play at their university. One of them was coach William Glass at the university of South Carolina Salkehatchie and he was the one who convinced me the most and I decided to attend the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie in Fall 2015. There were several reasons that made me choose Salkehatchie such as the school being a state university with a tight connection to the other USC campuses.

 

My studies at the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie focused on mainly Business and Math classes paired with classes in English, Science, and Social Studies. Being a Sophomore in Fall 2016 I became one of two captains from the men’s soccer team. This position acknowledged my leadership abilities and provided me with the chance to improve these abilities in an international environment existing of teammates from 15 different countries. Another important building block for my career is the Graduation with Leadership Distinction in Global Learning. The certificate accompanying my Associate’s Degree is an important acknowledgment for shown leadership abilities. During off-times between semesters, I try to expand my horizon by traveling to different countries such as my vacation in Spain described in the Insight. In order to finance a week or two of traveling, I have to work during the other fourteen weeks of summer holidays. I apply to jobs in different sectors in order to achieve a bigger variety of work experiences.

 

Reconsidering the skills needed for the job I’m striving for, I made great progress in terms of proceeding towards a Bachelor’s Degree with a concentration on business and marketing classes. With the GLD program and the experience of leading a soccer team full of internationals, I improved my Leadership skills with an international emphasis.

 

With the signing of a National Letter of Intend, I committed to further my education while playing soccer at Davenport University starting Fall 2017. Davenport University is a medium sized university in Grand Rapids, Michigan which excels in business-related Degrees. The DU Panthers were a perennial powerhouse for men’s soccer in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Davenport University athletics will be moving to Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association during summer 2017. The signing is the first of several more steps needed to procure my goal. I intend to finish two Bachelor’s Degrees at Davenport University. One in General Business with an emphasis in International Business and the other one in Management with an emphasis in Sports Management. I also intend to implement one or two internships in professional soccer clubs into my plans for the summer of 2017 till 2019. After receiving the Degrees, I plan on having a resume that will convince my dream employer that I’m the right one for a job as a Sports Manager. I’m aware that I won't be able to get the final manager position until I worked my way up within a club. I just want to have done everything I could in order to meet all the pre-requirements for my dream job.

 

Once I start my dream job as a Sports Manager, I will be able to communicate and negotiate contracts with international operating businesses and players from all over the world. My achievements during school and internships will help me in the process of negotiation and communication. I will be able to understand the international aspects of the contracts and I will also be able to work in between cultural differences among players, managers, and other partners. The skills I have learned at school will provide the foundation for future career success and the achievement of personal goals.