Ryan Nyambe

Hi my people, welcome to another installment of my weekly column Ryan’s Corner. I had a few busy days finishing off some university course work. This week I want to have a light conversation about life and what it takes to succeed as a footballer in this highly competitive footballing world.

My philosophy and understanding of things is that one should never get too comfortable with life if you ever want to reach your fullest potential. The same applies to footballers – if one wants to excel on and off the pitch, you must be ready and willing to jump out of your comfort zone and do things that make you feel uncomfortable.

That way and by doing that, you will learn to appreciate that it doesn’t matter if you make mistakes along the way because mistakes are part of life and are meant to make you much stronger and better persons. The same again goes for footballers, you will make mistakes on the pitch and get bashed for it but how you bounce back and what you learn from that experience is all that matters.

To the young and upcoming Namibian footballers, my advice to you my friends is to say, always keep going and follow your dreams no matter what. It will not be easy but again, nothing in life comes easy. Never think you are too important and too good than others, because with that kind of mentality you will miss out on great opportunities.

Another problem that I have noticed becoming the downfall of many footballers and also generally for people in life, is getting carried away by the little success we gain along the way and in the process end up losing sight of the bigger goal or picture of our lives or careers.

Here in the UK where I am based, I have seen tons of young professional players with promising careers coming to a point where they don’t want to better themselves anymore just because they tasted a little bit of success and think they have made it. 

My point is that in football, especially in professional setups, no matter how much you earn or how good you are as a player, always strive to better yourself and plan wisely for your future because football is a very short career. 

Keeping striving to unleash qualities and abilities you never thought you had, keep bettering yourselves and those around you. Until next week, see you on the other side of the corner!