Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Mulamba.
Hi Greg, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story goes all the way back to Africa, I was born in the DRC (Democratic Republic Of Congo). When I was four years old, my family moved to South Africa as war broke out in the DRC. I was raised in Johannesburg, South Africa with my parents and my brothers, my dad played soccer and so did my mom so you could say it was in my blood. My brothers and I all loved soccer and ever since I can remember, we’ve been playing. When I was a senior in high school, my club team played in a tournament that was attended by a college scout from America, he saw me play and asked if I’d be interested in playing soccer and studying abroad in the US and that’s how my journey to America started. I played four years of college soccer and after graduating, I played pro for a few years and ended up in Austin playing for the Austin Aztex who were in the USL Pro division. That was a tough year for me as I suffered a bad injury and had to cut my career short. After retiring as an athlete, I worked as the Director Of Coaching at Soccer Shots Austin for a few years and also coach at Capital City Soccer Club, my experience working as a DOC gave me a great insight into what it would take to actually run my own business behind the scenes and my experience coaching for Capital City sharpened my coaching ability as I coached some great players at different skill levels.
I always knew I wanted to go out on my own eventually and do something that involved soccer as the sport has done so much for me over the years. I’ve always loved working with players and helping them improve and develop their game not just physically but mentally as well, that’s when I decided to start FalseNin9 Soccer Development.
FalseNin9 was born to prepare players as much as possible for the challenges and successes they will face in their careers.
The name FalseNin9 derives from the position False 9 on the soccer field which is an unconventional take on the center forward position. It revolutionized how the position was played and moved away from the traditional way of playing the center forward position. This perspective shift is what FalseNin9 Soccer Development creates for its players: a new way to think and achieve – both on and off the field. At FalseNin9 Soccer Development, we believe that soccer, and life, are separated into two parts: external and internal factors. External factors refer to the things a player cannot control. Internal factors are the individual choices that they can control.
We teach players to account for the external factors and tap into the possibilities within the internal factors. Once a player masters awareness of the external factors and control over the internal factors, they can make confident, creative, and high-level decisions in their play. This ability will translate into any level of soccer, to any formation, for any coach; but most importantly, this decision-making ability will translate into their everyday lives.
We’ve been embraced by the Austin community and I’m so thankful for that, FalseNin9 Soccer is very much a family-friendly company and my own family has had a huge part in helping the company come into existence and grow. We want to keep serving the soccer community in Austin the best way we know how and thats by working hard.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Going off on your own is always a challenge and I decided to start FalseNin9 Soccer two years ago in the midst of the pandemic. There were many reasons not to start but my parents always taught me not to fear failure, the real failure comes in not even trying. I had a dream and a vision of what I wanted to do and with the pandemic, I had the time to work on my business plan and my philosophy and all the things I needed to start. We started off really small with about six players and now we’ve had over 100 players participate in FalseNin9 sessions either individually or through camps. We’ve also had multiple players recruited into NCAA Division 1 Colleges and also multiple players playing for the Austin FC Youth Academy.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At FalseNin9 Soccer Development, we believe that soccer, and life, are separated into two parts: external and internal factors. External factors refer to the things a player cannot control. Internal factors are the individual choices that they can control.
We teach players to account for the external factors and tap into the possibilities within the internal factors. Once a player masters awareness of the external factors and control over the internal factors, they can make confident, creative, and high-level decisions in their play. This ability will translate into any level of soccer, to any formation, for any coach; but most importantly, this decision-making ability will translate into their everyday lives. That’s what sets us apart; we are focused on the athlete as a whole.
We are all about our players and watching them achieve their goals is what makes us proud. Whether thats playing college soccer, pro soccer, making the high school varsity team, becoming a starter for their club or just improving for themselves.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We want to get the word out to people about what we do so something simple like reposting videos on Instagram or telling friends and family always helps. On a larger scale as a person of color, I would love to make it easier for people of color to be able to take my program. We tend to struggle finding people who are willing to sponsor a less fortunate player and we also struggle finding soccer field space to use where we can host events where the less privileged can participate. So if anyone out there has any connections and can provide us with a soccer field to use when needed that would be a great support.
Contact Info:
- Email: falsenin9soccer@gmail.com
- Website: www.FalseNin9.com
- Instagram: @falseNin9Soccer
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/wTxRu2OBHik
