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From the Pitch - "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye"

By BILLY FORBES, Phoenix Rising FC, 08/29/18, 7:00PM EDT

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New city. New club. New challenges. Switching teams means much more than putting on a new kit

Sometimes I’m asked by fans why I decided to leave San Antonio to play in Phoenix.

I loved my time in San Antonio and all of the memories I made over there.

I will always treasure that part of my career and all the fans who supported me from my time with the Scorpions to San Antonio FC.

But the thing about deciding to move from one organization to the other is that there isn’t always just one easily explained reason why we, as athletes move. In the instances where we have the choice, there can be many reasons why we decide to begin life with a new club.

Even though I was excited about Phoenix, It was very difficult to leave San Antonio considering the fact that I love the city and the fans. I share a special bond with the people, especially from San Antonio Scorpions and now to SAFC. I’ll never forget my time there and I am forever grateful to the fans for welcoming me to their family. Even though I am now on the other side of the pitch, I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the fans and organization.

One of the most attractive things that Phoenix had to offer was the opportunity to play with Didier Drogba. Like so many other players, Drogba was an idol to me and someone who I looked up to on and off the pitch. I wanted to score thrilling goals and win championships the same way he had with Chelsea, but I also wanted to be a humanitarian in the same way he is.

That’s why I do humanitarian work for children in Haiti.

For the past five years, we have managed the foundation and the club in Haiti where we develop young talents and help them grow as a player while learning about the game. On my end, I usually help them with soccer-related instruction and in the offseason, I go down there to coach them as much as I can.


Forbes with young soccer players in Limbe Haiti. The forward now has 67 kids total in his program.

I also wanted to play in a world-class environment and I knew that if someone like Didier Drogba was playing in Phoenix, they were doing something right with their organization.

It was even better than I imagined. The coaching staff is top-class. The athletic training staff is always making sure to be at the forefront of their field to ensure our bodies are in the best possible shape.

The partnerships the club has with the Mayo Clinic for our medical needs and places like US Cryotherapy for our recovery showed me how much emphasis the organization places on player health.

"There’s always pressure when you come to a new place. But pressure is good for players. You don’t ever want to become too comfortable. Being a newcomer means I have to fight for what I earn."

In terms of my own personal growth, having a coach like Patrice Carteron in Phoenix when I was making my decision was huge. As players, we want to be challenged by the best and learn from the best, and there are few coaches in the country as good as Patrice.

I saw what he was able to do with the team last season and how he turned them around from a bottom-half-of-the-table team to a playoff contender at the end of the season.

Good coaches are so important and players will always want to have a chance to play with the best ones when they can. I couldn’t pass up the chance to learn from Patrice and make myself a better player.

And that’s probably the biggest motivating factor for moving from one place to another: the challenge.

That’s what it all comes back to. Being the best athlete you can be is all about challenging yourself. It can be as large as moving to an unfamiliar place, or as small as volunteering to go one-on-one in a drill against the best player on your team.

I felt changing clubs and moving to Phoenix would be a worthwhile challenge and help make me into a better player. Sure, there was some pressure attached to coming to Phoenix. There’s always pressure when you come to a new place. But pressure is good for players. You don’t ever want to become too comfortable. Being a newcomer means I have to fight for what I earn. And because this squad is two or three players deep at most positions, someone can easily com in and take your spot. All season long we’ve had a positive culture of competition.

I continue challenging myself. Even writing this is challenging! But I know I will become a better player for it. And as long as I’m a better player and person at the end of the season as I was at the beginning, the move was worth it.


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