Episode 61: An American Forging A Career In Europe, On The Touchline: w/ Mike Keeney

Episode 61: An American Forging A Career In Europe, On The Touchline: w/ Mike Keeney

Welcome to the 61st episode of the In The 11 Podcast! Today, Brendan Griffiths is joined by Mike Keeney as he shares how he transitioned from being a player to a coach and then taking his career from the US to Europe. Mike talks about the kind of mindset necessary to be able to go through such growth, and also what it took to actually grow in the career that he’s chosen for himself. Before all these happened for Mike, he had to make a decision as well, more on which will be shared in this episode so be sure to stay tuned!

Scraping by to make a living:

Mike shares how he went through the all-too-familiar life of having to work extremely hard to make the dream a reality. He shares specifically about his experience in Finland where the season runs from January to October and he would have to train with the players in different circumstances depending on the weather. He also had to train with 3 to 5 teams on a daily basis and sometimes even during freezing weather too. 2-hour breaks for lunch, different teams treated as different entities, adjusting to different matches for different teams as well, are just a number of things that Mike had to deal with in his career. He made it a point to look at his hard work as an investment and kept going.

An American coach in Europe:

Having to deal with language barriers is already a given, different languages had to be learned as time passed by during his stay in Europe as they also welcome players that are not able to speak English and he could not stress enough as well why understanding the cultural differences is important. How the small talks could actually help build the team up as well and would have been impossible if Mike himself could not get to speak with the team. He shared how he tried to bring in the mindset that sports are not just a hobby but a career, and him being the foreigner, might have helped put more weight into his words and embed deeper into the mindset of his players as well.

About Mike Keeney:

Born just outside of New York City in Westwood, New Jersey, and grew up in Middletown, New York until the age of 8. From there, his family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and we settled in a town called Antioch which for me is my “hometown”. Mike went to elementary school, junior high school, and high school there. It is where he grew up, where he learned about life, it is where I found my calling in life…to be a football coach. Since that time he has been fortunate to be able to travel all over the world while working as a professional coach. This game has opened up the world to him and he’s been able to learn and experience so much over the years that he wants to start to share his knowledge and experience with others.​

Outline of the Episode:

• [00:02:08] Mike Keeney’s background and his career plan
• [00:15:29] The mindset for transitioning into coaching
• [00:20:19] Finding your inner coach, and getting people to acknowledge it
• [00:26:51] Growing as a coach
• [00:34:48] What the sacrifices Mike had to do for the dream
• [00:40:01] Looking at your career as a business
• [00:45:19] Difficulties of having a different culture from the team
• [00:53:27] Bringing American culture to the team
• [01:10:42] What it takes to be a pro player on and off the field
• [01:19:55] The mentality is what takes player places

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Find Mike Keeney on…

Website: https://www.mikekeeney.net

LinkedIn: