We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Guilherme Henry. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Guilherme below.

Guilherme , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

“One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” — Benjamin Disraeli.

I’ve always dreamed to become a professional soccer player and when I received my last “no”. I realized that maybe I could fulfill my dream in a different position, maybe off the fields, leading and coaching players to be the best version of themselves every day.

My last attempt of becoming a professional soccer player happened in Qatar. From that experience, I’ve dedicated my whole life to prepare myself to help young athletes to have more chances to make their chances come true. So they don’t have to go through the same disappointment I felt.

I’ve dedicated my time to read books, webinars, licenses, courses, phone calls, benchmarking and mentorships to get the knowledge that would allow me to guide my players and increase their chances to achieve their life goals.

I always believe that preparation is the most important part of success. We don’t know when opportunities knock our door and some opportunities might happen once in a lifetime. That’s what happened with me.

I was hired to coach in a recreational soccer program and receiving a very low pay but I continue to invest in my education and I gave the best I could at that time. I was noticed as someone that study the game and I got my chance to coach a U14 team at the time. The team wasn’t the most competitive but I built a strong connection with players and each one of them developed a lot in a short period of time.

Suddenly, I was offered to coach both of the best teams in the academy. That was the chance I needed to prove myself and I would wake up early in the morning to watch our games and create clips to maximize player’s awareness of their functions and performance. The psychological aspect on the youth game is massive and I would call my mom that is a sports psychologist in Brazil to see what I could do to help the players. Sometimes it demanded me to be tough with them and hold them accountable for certain behaviors but it was important for their individual development. I prepared myself constantly day by day to provide the best guidance to both teams. I remember I would wake up every single day motivated to deliver my best and perform in the best of my capacities. It led us to special moments. We won most of the games, tournaments and leagues by playing, enjoying and developing. My measure of success aren’t the medals, trophies and winning record but having 3 players moving to MLS Academies across the country and 1 player that signed professionally in Portugal with a first division club, Gil Vicente FC.

By being ready for this previous opportunity, it allowed me to have helped individual every single player in both teams. When I didn’t expect, I was offered to become the USL 2 Head Coach for a new program that the academy just created, USL 2 is the most popular semi-professional league in the US with over 155 teams.

I was only 28 years old when I became the Head Coach of Nona FC, the youngest coach in the league. As soon as I got this job. I remember I cry and I pray to thank God. It’s not easy to grow as a coach. The hardships are huge, usually the salary is not enough to pay your bills and most of the jobs request experience and very expensive coaching licenses. It’s hard for a young coach to pay their bills, invest in their education and acquire experiences that most of the time are volunteered. By sacrificing many things in my personal life and truly focusing everything in coaching, I was able to get a big opportunity ahead.

I recruited the core of the team by players I knew from previous experiences but also they had good character. In my first big opportunity, I wanted to create a strong and positive culture. I handpicked each person to be involved in our program. A strong and positive locker room is more effective than 100 hours of tactics. I recruited players that haven’t won or achieved anything relevant in the United States and I told them we would have to work together to change that scenario and accomplish big things together as a unity.

In my first season coaching at USL 2 level. We had a record of 12-1-1 and won the Southeast Division, being the fourth best record in the United States. We qualified to playoffs and we also qualified to participate in the US Open Cup, the most traditional professional soccer tournament in America. I also received a Coach of the Year Nominee.

This first season was very special to many people but I actually felt that we came short. We had a unique group of people, the training sessions were always high level when needed and fun in between. Players interacted with each other and there was no ego or vanity. We had a very strong team and we played the best soccer in the whole league. It’s hard to create
this positive conditions and that’s why I am proud of the journey but I still have inside of me that we could’ve done more.

We started the preparation for the US Open Cup, I had to build a roster without college players that aren’t allowed to play by eligibility rules considering is a professional tournament. As a semi-professional club we cannot pay salaries and it makes extremely hard to recruit the best players. I’d wake up at 5 am every day and watch hundred of videos that I received on my email, instagram, WhatsApp and recommended by coaches, agents and players.

We started our preparation in February and we would have the first match in March. The things weren’t easy in this process. We’ve lost every single friendly match against Philadelphia Union II, Montverde Academy, University of Central Florida. I realized that some players didn’t understand that was their last chance. They weren’t taking it as they should. In our last match against UCF we lost 2-0 and players were laughing and taking pictures after the match. Intentionally I confronted them and planted an opportunity for them to hold each other’s accountable.

In our last week of preparation I thought our sense of unity was much stronger, everyone was focused and holding each other to high standards. They understood that for us to achieve anything, we would have to have everyone on their best. We played our first game against Club de Lyon (NISA), they have been playing two years together and they are a professional club. They were preparing since the previous year. We scored our first goal with 45 seconds in the first half. We played 42 minutes with a man down and seeing everyone sacrificing to win that game. We won and we qualified to play the second round against Tampa Bay Rowdies at Al Lang Stadium, one of the most beautiful stadiums in Florida.

Being able to play against a USL Championship powerhouse was special. Take the club that opened the doors for me to a professional environment was meaningful. However, I truly worked to win that game. We played a very competitive game and we created chances to score some goals but they were more efficient and they won the game 2-0. After the match, their head coach gave an interview highlighting my work and the difficulty of that game against a very competitive rival.

This journey has been beautiful but it would never happen if I didn’t prepare constantly even when I couldn’t see any opportunities coming my way. Sometimes it’s hard to be disciplined and committed when you can’t see the possibilities but life is mysterious and things can change suddenly. From a recreational coach to be playing a professional tournament within 2 years was meaningful and I’d like to use my history to motivate people to believe their dreams and prepare constantly so they can take the opportunity and make the most out of the opportunities that comes with it.

Nowadays, I am the Technical Director for One Knoxville SC, a professional club in Tennessee. I am aware that this opportunity wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t deliver unexpected results in my previous job. Now, it’s a new opportunity and here I am preparing and delivering meaningful results to my club and the people that work with me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I was born with the passion for soccer and I’ve been playing since I was two years old. Kicking the ball inside my house and breaking glasses, mirrors and anything in my way. I’ve played competitive soccer since 5 years old starting in the futsal all the way my last attempt to become a professional player in Qatar.

I received a scholarship through soccer in 2014 but I didn’t speak English and I didn’t have any knowledge about studying and living in the United States. However, I was very excited to leave my comfort zone and explore new experiences and cultures. I did my college here and I never thought about coaching. I wanted to work with international affairs. After finishing my college I was unsure about which path to pursue. I decided to get my MBA done to have more time to figure out what to do in life.

During my MBA. I received a chance to play professionally in Qatar. I spend some time training in Al-Duhail. The Emir from Qatar is the owner. The Head Coach was Rui Faria. He worked with Jose Mourinho (My favorite soccer coach) from Porto to Manchester United. He didn’t have any soccer background and he always spoke about focusing on the human beings instead on the athletes. If you take care of the human being they will be better athletes.

After realizing my playing time was over, I decided to use all my good and bad experiences as lessons and knowledge to help the players I work with, to develop as human beings and athletes in a positive and respectful matter with good environment to guide them to make their dreams come true. Soccer is powerful, teach us many life lessons, prepare us to deal with life. I use soccer as a mean to make a positive contribution in our society.

I’ve played in several academies in Brazil, college, USL and a short experience in Qatar.

I pursued a dream to become a prof

Coaching soccer in the United States for 8 years, I’ve worked with youth players in 20 cities across the country. I coached college level at St. Andrews University (North Carolina) for 1 season. Last 2 years I have worked with youth teams (U14 & U12) and currently I lead Nona FC (USL 2) program.

In our inaugural season, Nona FC achieved the Southeast Conference title and I’ve been indicated as Coach of the Year (USL 2), winning the public vote. After our inaugural season: 7 players were named All Conference in their colleges and 1 player signed a professional contract.

I’ve finished my bachelor degree in Social Science and I hold a Master’s Degree in Management. Currently I am pursuing my coaching licenses with ATFA (Argentina).

I believe in a humanistic management which I prioritize the human being and I help my players to find their purposes and develop skills to achieve their goals. If my players succeed I succeed.

Fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

In my perspective, theory without implementing and evaluating is just an illusion of knowledge. Knowledge comes from applying theoretical ideas into action. Being able to see what didn’t work, recognize it and adjust as necessary to make it effective.

Life is about risks and we aren’t never ready and there isn’t perfect time. We will figure it out along the way. It requires courage to take the first step. Humility to recognize mistakes and and ability to turn things around towards the direction you want to go. You’re not ready to be successful in the beginning of the journey, the journey shapes you to be successful.

It doesn’t matter the field we are, I believe that high performance is about knowing what we want, without knowing if we will achieve it. You need to figure it out and make it happen.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I stayed 4 years without going home and seeing my family or friends. During my professional growth, lots of times I struggled emotionally by missing being around my parents and just be myself. During this period, my motivation to keep going was to see the positive impact I caused in players and staff. It was my motivation to keep going.

The moments of doubts, failures and disappointments it’s tough to not have the people you trust the most and you need to find ways to overcome it by yourself. Or when something great happens and you can’t share it with the people that you love the most. However, I’ve used my pain as my fuel and I could make my family proud with everything that happened during this period of 4 years.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: guiilhermehenry
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067648780718
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guilherme-henry-51a883154/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKt1zergbuBLiZHStT6IaIQ

Image Credits
Julian Garcia and Victor Estrella