Daniel Augustine aka Di’Gustine 17 is a sports athlete and entrepreneur from Benue State, Nigeria. He started the Arise&Shine Football Academy Ikorodu, Lagos 8 years ago and his passion of the sport has only grown deeper.

“In the last 2 and half years, 4 of our players moved to better teams through our academy and this has even driven more kids to join us and also made them to work harder for the next big movement”

Q – What inspired you to start a football academy?

A – First of all I have a very deep passion for the football and also I see lots of young kids in my area just playing this evening 5 Aside with themselves and  with nobody to put them through on the right track so I decided to and the love of it and it started growing daily.

Besides almost all the boys would have been touts , hooligans, cultist and other negative vices but due to this lots of them decided to play football and I gave them the reasons why football will definitely change their lives.

Q – Tell us about your journey into football so far and how you see the industry?

A – My journey into football has not been an easy one because of the lack of sponsors. That has been the most challenging part. I need to buy almost every training materials once in a while some of the parents do support.

Q – What are some of the key challenges you’ve faced growing the academy?

A – Some of the key challenges like I mentioned earlier are the lack of sponsors, we also lack of basic training materials and facilities. The parents do not really support the projects and a general lack of funds to finance the team.

Q – How do you attract talent what do you look for in young players?

A – Passion is the number one thing i see definitely because some kids are so passionate about football and this really help me to bring them to the team and  teach them the basics and we have lots of kids like that as at today they have developed to be a very good players.

Q – How do you balance the business side of running an academy with your passion for the sport?

A – Balancing the business side and running the academy has been through the help of friends… to just cut it brief.

Q – What are the long-term goals for your academy, and how do you plan to scale or expand?

A – the long time goal is how i can expose them to more opportunities out there like going for scouting programs, trials, screenings against other formidable and well established teams better than us.

About expansion,  i want to go into primary and secondary schools and look for young vibrant and  passion drive kids that wants to become professional players.

Also when the players in the academy start moving to bigger teams lots of other players will definitely want to come to our team so they also can pass through this channel where it’s been happening already.

Q – Have you noticed any particular success stories from players who have gone through your academy?

A – A Big Yes!!!  In the last 2 and half years, 4 of our players moved to better teams through our academy and this has even driven more kids to join us and also made them to work harder for the next big movement.

This year our captain and assistants moved to bigger teams too. just a couple days back, the new captain was picked up again.

Q – What advice would you give to young people who want to pursue a career in football?

A – My simple advice is first of all they need to believe in themselves even when no one think they can do it because they are the only one that can stand against achieving their dreams. they should keep working hard on a daily not a once in a while but consistently and to put god first!.

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