By Entrepreneur and professional soccer star Victor Parra will be a familiar face to millions of soccer fans around the globe. Victor, who played professional soccer in Portugal and also featured on an ESPN reality TV show in the US, actually turned down a long term deal to stay on the show, in order to complete his college studies in San Jose State University.
The show itself was headed up by famous soccer star Thiery Henry and the purpose of the show was to find the world’s best undiscovered soccer star. They were very much focused on finding street soccer stars, perhaps kids who came from rough areas.
Parra was chosen by the show from thousands of players and they flew him out to Malibu, LA. He appeared on episode 1 of the high ranked show, which was produced by the same group who produced the global hit film ‘Coach Carter’.
Recalling that time in his life Victor recounts ‘’After episode one, they flew all of the stars of the show to Brazil for 6 months to be part of the show, long term. That was the same time when I received my scholarship, my full ride to San Jose State University. So I had to choose between going on TV for 6 months or pretty much losing my scholarship. I ended up choosing college because I knew that my degree would last forever, I’m getting paid a tonne of money and I might get drafted. I thought it out pretty well and I thought it was the right decision at the time’’.
Do you still think it was the right decision?
‘’Absolutely. I think that was a lot better than if I went on a show and maybe it would have worked or maybe it wouldn’t. I wasn’t willing to gamble with the opportunity of the scholarship and I had to make a pretty mature decision at a young age and I think I made the right one’’.
We don’t envy Victor Parra for having to make a difficult decision. However, it looks like Victor’s decision has brought him plenty of success. As mentioned previously, he went on to play division 2 professional soccer in Portugal and he also launched a successful real estate investing company in Silicon Valley. Safe to say things have turned out pretty well for the rising star.
A few years ago there was no NIL deals. NIL stands for name, image and likeness. As of this past year college athletes can sign NIL deals and generate big money while being a student athlete.
If Victor had this opportunity it would be a different story here. He would have made plenty of money from his name, image and likeness . Some notable college athletes today have signed NIL deals worth over a million dollars. Many make more than the coach and their staff. How interesting would that athlete, coach relationship be? That’s for another topic though.
If you want to learn more about Victor Parra, you can follow him on Instagram here.
Media contact:
Contact: Kayla Whelan
Email: [email protected]
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