Former pro soccer players don”™t just fade away and wait for the World Cup on TV. They must adapt to the world of work even as their sport ”“ “the beautiful game” ”“ sticks to them like mud once stuck to their cleats.
A Westport-native and financial adviser for Lenox Advisors of New York City and Stamford, Kyle Martino is the epitome of the dual life of soccer. He has made it to the two highest levels of play ”“ professional and national ”“ and now he wears a tie to work.
“Westport was and is a very large soccer hotbed,” said Martino. “Even then I had access to a lot of great coaches and programs that give you the bug early.”
Martino, a 1999 Staples High School graduate, played at the University of Virginia and was named 2001 MLS Rookie of the Year as a midfielder with the Los Angeles Galaxy, playing alongside David Beckham.
Martino began his athletic career early, attending the IMG Bollettieri Sports Academy in Florida, a professional sports farm school for prospective professional athletes, during high school.
“In a small window of a year and a half I jumped all the way to the national team and I really began to excel at the game,” said Martino.
Though it seemed his career in soccer was set in stone, Martino began taking classes in his off seasons.
“I, at a very early point in my career, went back and immediately started taking classes to earn another degree,” said Martino. “I was aware that there would be a life after. I was going to Ohio State when I played for the Columbus Crew and UCLA when I played for L.A. That was how I was able to focus on being complete while playing the game.”
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Martino said soccer in the U.S. ”“ off-handedly called “the game of the future and always will be” ”“ is generally not a game in which you can rest on the financial rewards of your athletic tenure, though there are other paths.
Thomas Henske, partner at Lenox, who was a two-time all-American soccer player, and played for the three-time National Champion University of Virginia Cavaliers, was also the man who encouraged Martino to think further down the road. While playing for the L.A. Galaxy, Martino would spend the off-season interning at Lenox.
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In a game playing for the U.S. National Team in the Confederations Cup against Cameroon, Martino suffered an ankle injury. The injury would cause Martino leg problems for the rest of his career. He found himself forced, sooner than he thought, to deal with the question: What”™s after sports?
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“When I was going to make a very huge life change, it was Tom, one of the guys that inspired me to go to the University of Virginia, who was now the person who helped me find my path in the second chapter of my life,” said Martino.
Martino said to be close to the game, in a coaching or training role, was not an option for him.
“I knew I would feel that hunger to be out there, playing,” said Martino.
The one-time soccer standout soon became a rookie in the financial services industry. Martino has also become a color commentator for ESPN-broadcasted professional soccer games.
“The reality of knowing that there is a next chapter after, for a kid who sees his name in neon lights, is that you have to figure things out very quickly after hanging the cleats up,” said Martino.
As a way to pay homage to the sport he loves, Martino hopes to build a sports-centric financial advising practice to help manage sports money; an area that he said can be daunting for a professional athlete.
Winston Buddle of New Rochelle, N.Y., is another professional soccer player who focused his professional career back into the sport. Buddle, owner of the Golden Touch Soccer clinic in New Rochelle, was part of Martino”™s pedigree and a former professional player in his own right, though Buddle took a different path.
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“After retiring, I had to be part of the game,” said Buddle. He said when he was ready to retire he felt a compulsion to teach youth players and give back to the future of the game.
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Buddle played professionally for various teams throughout the ”™80s, and then in Greece for the club team Cyprus. In the early ”™90s he returned to begin some of the most successful and widely known soccer training in the tri-state area along with Joe Palumbo, the now owner of the Joe Palumbo Soccer Academy in Putnam, N.Y.
Buddle”™s clinics have produced high-achieving players selected to division-I colleges, Olympic development programs, state, regional, national, professional and Olympic teams. His graduates include his son, Edison Buddle, named for the Brazilian soccer legend Edson Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pele. Edson Buddle currently plays for the L.A. Galaxy.
“There”™s so much more competition these days,” said Buddle. “The sport is still growing here. There”™s a lot more awareness that players from around here can go further than high school in the sport.”
Buddle said former players have to find what works for them, though purging themselves of the game forever can be hard for those who really love it.
Daniel D”™Angelo, born in London and former college player for Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire, coach and private trainer, recently opened The Village Soccer Shop in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
“The younger players are now involved in every aspect of the game,” said D”™Angelo. “Unlike in the past when I was young, kids now play the game but also are die-hard followers of their favorite teams, players and leagues. I have 6-year-old kids come into the shop and they know every team jersey in the shop; that never happened when I was growing up playing the game.”
D”™Angelo said that soccer today isn”™t just a sport, but a culture, style and mentality.
“You shop here instead of a Modells’ for quality, service and knowledge of the game,” said D”™Angelo, referencing the popular sporting goods stores. He said most authentic or high quality soccer products are still hard to find and are often ordered from overseas.
“There is a big untapped market in soccer,” said D”™Angelo. “At big chain stores it is hard enough to get someone to help you let alone to find someone with real knowledge about the game of soccer.”
