14A - Halfway Reflection

1.  In this class one of the most important things is being time organized and keeping up with deadlines. On Thursdays I do not have any in person classes so I just use that day to do my work for this class. By keeping this routine I rarely ever miss deadlines and am doing fine in the class.
2. Honestly there have been so many times where I just did not want to do a post. It is only 3 points so I had a lot of points where I did not want to write at all. But, I am grade driven and thus ended up always completing them. I would not say this class helped me gain a tenacious attitude at all. It has not really helped me personally aside from time management.
3. Three Tips for next student:
1. Always keep track of deadlines.
2. Never give up!
3. These are not hard just start them early.

13A - Reading Reflection

One of the entrepreneurs I chose to focus on from my readings Steve Jobs. One of the things that surprised me about Steve Jobs the most was how quickly he was able to rise and make his company profitable. What I most admired about Steve Jobs was his opportunistic nature. He always seemed to capitalize on most opportunities he saw in the market, such as the modern computer, smart phone, and iTunes. One thing I least admired about Steve Jobs was probably his arrogance. He was very reluctant to listen to his employees and would often shut them down. That is not a very good characteristic of a leader in my opinion. Steve has gone through many adversities through his career. One way he faced adversity was when he had to drop out of college and had a couple rough years picking himself up and really making it. He rebounded, however, and founded the legendary company today.

I would say Steve Jobs' biggest competency would be his opportunistic nature. Whenever he was given the chance to succeed he took the opportunity and ran away with it. One example could be Apple's first Super Bowl commercial. Many thought it was a bad commercial and Apple would lose money but Steve Jobs insisted and took the opportunity, which paved way for more successful Super Bowl commercials.

I would say the most confusing thing about this reading was keeping track of Apple's achievements and Steve Jobs'. He was in and out of the company for a while despite finding it, which was a little confusing.

One thing I would ask Steve Jobs is what his regular day routine was. I would want to know how he kept a balanced life and what out of work experiences helped shaped his life.

I think Steve Jobs thought of hard work with the old school mindset of put this many hours in to it if you want to be successful. I do not necessarily believe that. I believe living a balanced and happy lifestyle is more important and will help your hard work be better.

11A - Idea Napkin No. 1

1. I am currently a senior majoring in Sport Management at the University of Florida. Some of my skills include being easy to work with, being open-minded, the ability to communicate well with others, as well as being able to manage time well. Some past experiences I have include working as an equipment manager for the lacrosse team, as well as working in the marketing and media department of the Turkish Basketball Federation and FIBA, the world governing body of all basketball. I have always wanted to be involved with scouting talent and developing them in soccer or basketball. I see a bigger need for development and scouting talent in soccer more in the United States, however. My concept is an academy where American youth can learn to develop their soccer skills in a European style based system. I would play a huge role in it as I would have to really market it well and I would have to scout all over the nation to see who would play for the academy. My role would also be developing them to a point where they garner European interest at a much younger age. While I do not have much coaching experience, it would be my responsibility to find and hire those that can coach.
2. I am offering a European style based training academy for soccer in the United States. It will be an academy that hopes to accelerate the development of youth here as well as connect them with European clubs at an earlier age. This would not only help the athletes but also the nation as we would become a bigger soccer power as a result.
3. I am offering this to aspiring soccer players of both genders between the ages of 8-21. These youth should have a strong drive to want to become an elite soccer player for their nation and be able to be successful abroad. 
4. Consumers will care as I am offering something very unique that can not give a chance for the youth to develop but also develop soccer in our nation as a whole. Through my connections, I would be able to higher credible trainers as well as connect them to clubs in Europe to get a head start.
5. I would be set apart with the fact I have experienced both systems and as a result can identify the strengths and weaknesses in both to come up with the perfect combination. I also believe that my passion for game and developing talent is quite explicit and should entice adults to send their kids to my academy.
6. I believe that all these elements fit together well and will lead to me delivering a successful product. I have the tools to really help develop the youth soccer here, which can be attractive to the demographic I have selected. You cannot really do this job if you do not have the passion from the beginning. The weakest part of my business concept might be credibility with my name. That is why I need to make sure I can hire the right credible trainers or credible spokespersons to help start up my concept.

10A - Elevator Pitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmbnB-ytAFY&feature=youtu.be

Watch my video in the link above for the Arman Soccer Academy elevator pitch!

9A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Who: In my interviews I found that the main people who would benefit from the need of a new soccer system in the United States are players first and foremost as well as the MLS teams. In the long-run the hope is that it would benefit soccer in the United States as a whole and create a larger fan base due to better developed players. of some of the interviews I conducted I found that the average U.S. sports fan does not really care for a change. Similar to my interviewees in my last post, two of my class mates I interviewed this week believe college sports are integral for tradition and do not really need to be changed. Since they did not really care for soccer in the first place, they did not really care for a change either and would thus fall outside of the boundary. Overall all of my interviewees admitted that even if it is not a total necessity, it really does not create any harm and if anything does benefit.

What: I found through my interviews that soccer as a whole is not big enough in the states for people to care whether there is a change or not. No one said my idea was a bad one; they just did not care for it. It seems this need is not big enough to overtake the tradition of college sports as that, in a way, is a need and something to look forward to for a lot of U.S. college students.

Why: The difference between the outside and inside has simply to do with the fact that the inside are soccer fans and players, while the outside does not care for soccer. Simply enough soccer just has not become that big here and people do not know enough about European soccer to actually realize there is a flaw in the system.

	Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who	Aspiring soccer players, soccer fans, the MLS as a whole	College sport traditionalists, non-soccer fans, uninformed soccer fans
What	A better soccer system in the United States for accelerated development	It is not worth breaking the college sport tradition and draft tradition. Soccer is not big enough for a change.
Why	It exists because our nation is lightyears behind other powers despite our resources due to the fact that college athletics prevents them from becoming professionals at a much earlier age and hinders their development. It can also provide an economic opportunity.	We do not really care for soccer and do not need to break tradition. It is fine the way it is. American Football is real football.

8A - Solving the Problem

• The problem I have selected is the lack in development of United States soccer players due to the current college and major league draft system.
• This problem stems from the fact that other countries' players are playing in the major leagues much earlier than Americans are. This causes them to develop their skills at a more accelerated rate.
• My proposed solution is that we take away NCAA Soccer and take away the MLS Draft. Most college soccer players played for their local academy teams, which are youth academies of MLS teams. They should just be able to continue their development with those teams and if they are good enough at a younger age they should have the ability to sign and play professional earlier. I understand this would take education away from those stars that can play at an early age, but that is the trade-off. Most players around the world become professional at 17 anyway. If you have not made it by then you probably never will and should apply to college. I have no doubt that this would lead to better development of our domestic players and can make this nation one of the better soccer nations around the world due to the resources we have. 

7A - Testing the Hypothesis Part 1

• One of the bigger issues in soccer in the United States has been the lack of development in domestic players because of the current MLS draft system as well as our best youth players only becoming professionals after finishing college.
• The who: American youth soccer players
• The what: They are unable to develop in to world stars
• The why: The current placed system in which youth players only become professionals through the draft after college are significantly behind compared to the rest of the world
• Testing the who: The only people facing this need are American youth soccer players and the reason they are behind in development is because no other country follows the same system.
• Testing the what: Youth players in other countries become professionals at around 16-17 and are exploited to a tougher and harder game at a younger age.
• Testing the why: The United States has a long tradition of college sports, which is not anywhere near as big in other countries. The U.S. also has a tradition of doing big draft events after college and ranking their players, which is not a tradition of other countries.
• Interviews: For this post I interviewed an American, who does not watch soccer at all except the World Cup; I interviewed an a friend of mine who plays for William & Mary's soccer team in Division 1; the last 3 people I interviewed were my classmates in Istanbul and avid soccer fans. My American Friend, David, who does not watch soccer at all, but is an avid football and basketball friend does not see the problems in a draft. He said college sports and major league drafts are a tradition here. He did realize though that the soccer system here is very behind other countries. He said there is no reason why countries that do not have the resources that the United States have should be playing better than we are. When I explained to him that most professionals abroad start playing in the major leagues at 17, he was kind of shocked, but then he immediately realized how much sense that made. My friend Derin completely agrees with me that college soccer and the draft is hindering the progress of domestic players. He said if he had the opportunity to skip college and continue playing for DC United he would probably be a much better player than he was today. He then pointed out that the United States' best player right now is Christian Pulisic, who left to play in Germany professionally at a much younger age rather than do the typical American system. He said he is a living example of why our system hinders development and how if they all became professionals at a younger age their development would have accelerated tremendously. My other 3 Turkish friends were not even aware of the American system. When I asked why, they simply responded that they had no reason to know it since the United States is not a soccer power at all. They were not able to comprehend that players were ranked and had to go through a draft. One of them said that in Europe your first professional team is the same as your youth team. This is important to note since the player has been in the same team culture for most of his life and is familiar with the club completely. When you get drafted by a team you have no familiarity with you have a much longer and harder time adjusting to the established culture. I came to realize even more after my interviews that there is definitely an opportunity in changing the soccer system in the United States. Everyone agreed with me that college soccer and the draft should not be a thing; the players should just continue through the academy and start playing professionally for their club at a younger age. If this happened, especially with the resources this country has, I am sure the United States could turn in to one of the biggest soccer powers in the world.