How It Started

Ever since I was a little booger, I was a sports fan. Whether it was Brazil in the World Cup, or the Montréal Canadiens in the NHL; I was always a sports fan, and naturally, a highly active kid.

When my parents decided to put me on the local soccer team, this is where it all started…

Playing and watching soccer is pretty much the perfect description of my childhood. I would watch the pros, and try to imitate their move in the next pickup game with my friends.

I loved soccer and was I tempted to become a professional soccer player. But in Montréal, becoming a pro soccer player is not a desirable career path.

Of course, being a pro athlete is amazing, but there was no clear path to achieving this dream. Nobody from Montréal made it to the big European leagues and therefore (and sadly), many kids quit or stop taking the sport as seriously as they should…

And I was no different…

Different Options

While still being energetic, I stopped playing the sport I loved so much and went into…theatre school. I absolutely loved it!

I loved watching movies and thought I should star in them (see how simple my thought processes were).

I signed up for theatre school. During that one year I spent there, I wasn’t the best kid, but I was okay. The program made us read books to learn more about the history and greatest minds of acting, and this is where my passion for reading arose (which plays a big part, bear with me).

Memorizing lines was not as fun as I thought it would be, but it all paid off during the performance.

Then one afternoon, one of my instructors said that I had the potential to become a great actor, but I needed to work hard at it and improve everything from my speech to my body posture and emotions.

Basically, if I wanted to make it as an actor, I needed to grind my ass off.

And then it clicked…the thought that saved me: ”If being an actor requires hard work and betting on myself in a field that only 1% of people make it, why don’t I just go back into soccer and make it there? The odds are the same, and I love soccer more than anything in my life…

The following day my brother asked me randomly while we were helping my dad at the restaurant: ”If you could quit everything and go play soccer for a living, would you do it?”

It took 1 second for me to answer ”yes”, and another to decide I was going to do it.

The Comeback

When I came back to my first tryout, I thought this was going to be easy and straightforward. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Not only did I fail to impress the coach, I was surprised at how much I had lost.

Coming back to soccer after a lengthy absence is a humbling experience. I couldn’t find a good team, and I wasn’t able to improve at all.

I decided to do it all by myself. I bought a ball and started training on my own. I was teaching myself new tricks, and coaching myself based on what I would see in the matches from the pros.

Slowly, I started getting better. I was faster, stronger, and smarter with the ball…I played in lower leagues and was showcasing my talent.

I tried to make it in Montreal, but the odds are not in your favor if you are a 20-year-old soccer player. The path to the top is either through club levels (which was disorganized at the time), or the university varsity team, which I tried and never got promoted to the varsity team, despite my good performances…

I decided I wanted to make it to the big leagues directly…

In September 2021, I took a leap of faith and traveled to Germany by myself to search for a club.

However, unlike what the movies show us, a leap of faith is not always pretty.

Training by yourself and teaching yourself everything is one thing, but playing with European players who were exposed to academies and the best coaches, is another.

But instead of weeping, I simply decided to learn from these guys and made great friends along the way.

I asked questions, studied my teammates, and tried to mimic their style. By the third month, I had become a totally different player and scored in a friendly game, my first official ”serious” goal.

In Germany, I refined my playing style and skills but was unsuccessful in finding a club due to an injury in the leg. I was forced to come back home.

Recollecting And Forming My Lifestyle

While I was back in my hometown, I was recovering from my lengthy injury and had all the time in the world to recollect.

Although I did get better at soccer, I wasn’t playing and couldn’t continue improving. So I decided to pursue other things temporarily. Recovering from an injury is physically and mentally challenging, but I loved it. I became fascinated with self-improvement.

I became obsessed with exercise, recovery, and nutrition. I would read articles about the latest studies and test things out on my own body. Eventually, I started reading books by the greatest minds and gathered enough knowledge to help not only myself but also my friends who wanted to improve their lifestyles.

After a year of learning, recollecting, and experimenting, I became healthy again and traveled back to Europe to find a club, although this time I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

After a month in Poland and Germany, I finally signed my first contract and did what a lot of people dreamed of doing: Getting paid to play soccer.

Creating A Platform

As I was playing more and more, I realized one thing: soccer players have a lot of free time. We only train and play for 40% of the week. The rest was simply a time to recover.

I quickly understood that I needed to make something out of this time. I wanted to create something for me—something in my name. At the same time, I wanted to help people get better in their life. I truly believe that a good lifestyle is the key to a fulfilled life, and a good lifestyle starts with a healthy mind and a healthy body.

And this is when I came up with Ray’s Lifestyle Field.

I cannot think of a better lifestyle than playing soccer and writing. It is what I love to do. Thanks to you, the reader, I am able to live my dream as a writer. My goal is to provide you with engaging and helpful content for you to improve your lifestyle and make decisions that will allow you to take control of your life.

So whoever you are, whatever you do or like, I hope there is something of value for you in this blog.

Welcome to my world! Now let’s kick some ass!