The Duality of Professionalism
How was the title? Confusing? Intriguing? Misdirecting?
Call it whatever you want. The actual meaning of the article’s headline won’t make sense until you have read the complete article.
First of all, I am using freestyle football as a basis to put my point across to a larger audience. So those of you, who are not related to freestyle football might find this article to be a bit confusing, because of all the terminologies and references that I will be using.
But still, it is my humble request to anyone who has stumbled upon here to go at least through 75% of the article. If you still think you have not come across anything useful, you are welcome to navigate through rest of this platform for something more useful to you.
Also, So as not to offend anyone I will be using the case of myself and of my good friend, Chinmay Banavali, a freestyler from India only.
According to Wikipedia, a professional person can be described as —
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who earns their living from a specified professional activity.
Okay. So basically if you are earning your livelihood from what you are doing, you can call that thing you are doing as your profession and hence yourself as a professional in that field. Fair enough!
But the term ‘Professional’ is also used a lot of times to indicate the quality of a person in his field of work. For example, if one is not adhering to some given time limits and does really shoddy work, he can be termed as an unprofessional person and vice versa.
Therefore we arrive to the dual meaning of professionalism, and how it can be misleading to deduce a person’s character.
Case 1 — When a person becomes a professional by earning a living from his profession.
This would be me in case of freestyle football. Although I am pretty new to this field, I can safely announce to the rest of the world that for time being I am not doing anything else but just freestyle football and trying to make a living out of it.
I have recently done shows for FIFA U17 World Cup which is going to happen in India. So that’s quite a big enough platform to state that my work is going quite okay.
But my level in terms of freestyle football is just below intermediary (4 out of 10). Not a very high level if you compare it to other freestylers around the world or even in my own country. It is just about enough to pull off a good show and entertain a crowd who has no idea about freestyle football (which is about 99.9% of the crowd)
Case 2 — When a person is professional in terms of how he practices his profession or his work.
This would be the case of my good friend Chinmay Banavali. He has been in the freestyle football community way longer than me. He has been around the world and represented India in global championships on two different occasions.
Also he is the most hardcore lower-body freestyler in India. His level in lowers is insane! Not only can he do three revolutions with ease but can also pull off long combos with multiple tricks in between. He also has a very high level in uppers and rest of the disciplines of freestyle football.
But at the same time, he is also a medical student and gives equal time and attention to his studies as to his freestyle football practice. He does not pursue freestyle football as a career choice, for now at least.
Although he has done more shows than me in his lifetime, I would put myself ahead of him in terms of following freestyle football as a profession.
I hope I have been able to draw a fine line between the dual meaning of professionalism in terms of freestyle football.
The term’s usage is very confusing and misleading. While a lot of people (like me) use the term ‘ Professional football freestyler’ as a means to represent their line of work, a lot of people use it to determine their level and passion for freestyle football.
Now there can be a case (and there are!) wherein a person is professional in both perspectives. He is actively taking part in competitions, has quite high level in freestyle football and also is making a living out of freestyle football. The biggest example would have to be Andrew Henderson, an inspiration to us all.
Ideally it would be best to follow the case of Andrew Henderson where one should try to maximize his potential level-wise in freestyle football and then try to go full time livelihood in it. But that is not the case everywhere.
The skill sets required to be good in doing shows and following freestyle football as a profession are not similar to having a high level in freestyle football. Doing freestyle football as a means of living requires several other skill sets other than being just a good freestyler. You have to have good communication skills, you should be personable, you have to have marketing skills etc.
Comparatively, none is easy to achieve. Freestyle football at a professional level or freestyle football as a profession. Both require a lot of hard work and time.
The above video demonstrates some tricks that can be used to entertain the crowd. Now these tricks are not easy to perform, but you do not require a very high level to learn these tricks honestly. Note — The freestyler in the above video has extremely high level and a former World Champion.
I hope I have able to put my point on distinguishing between the dual meaning of professionalism in freestyle football.
I do not wish to point out to anyone, but there are people who have been using freestyle football as a profession in a hugely unprofessional manner. It is sad, but it is not that hard to become a ‘freestyle football professional’ even when you can’t do some basics consistently.
Let’s not try to make freestyle football a money game. It is no crime to try and make a living out of freestyle football by any means necessary. But, let us try to remember why we all started freestyle football and keep giving back to this art-form whenever possible.
Professionalism means consistency of quality — Forbes
Thank you for reading this. Click that clap button a million times if you have reached till here. I would really love to hear your comments on this topic.
Thank you.
