We were pleased to announce our plans for the football summer courses, this past week. The fun will take place at our venue in Ascot, St.Georges School, during the weeks of July 25th – July 30th & August 22nd – August 26th.
The theme is, ‘Retro Football Week’, where we’ll be taking a step back in time to look at some of the most famous players, teams and tournaments from the past. This event has been kindly sponsored by local car service provider, VRT.
So far, we have confirmed that every player will receive;
– A FREE Champions League inspired shirt, for the first 20 players that book
– A USB stick, with 10 historical football matches, for every player to keep
– 1 legends book
– Over 150 original football shirts to view, from around the world
– Plenty of football memorabilia, from past games & tournaments
– Real life replica’s of the World Cup & Champions League trophies (photo opportunities)
– The chance to see original items from Figo, Ramos, Haaland, Ederson, Aguero, Morientes, Vogts and Pulisic amongst others!
PLUS…….
– All of our usual benefits, including coaching sessions, games & tournaments!!!!
– If that isn’t enough, we have lots of prizes and giveaways, including signed shirts from a number of Premier League stars!!!
The items that will be in attendance, are all original and are from some of the worlds greatest players. The purpose of this, is to align the training with these items and focus on that certain moment in history. We will be looking back as far as the 1970 world cup, so this really is an opportunity not to be missed.
Adam said, “This has taken a lot of planning, meetings and arranging, but I’m sure all of the parents and players will appreciate it. The idea is that we will learn about certain parts of previous football history, while looking at the original items used. These vary from boots, shirts, tickets and programmes. I haven’t seen anything else like this on the market and I’m excited to see how the event goes.”
If you would like to book onto either of the courses, please visit our, ‘For the Player’ tab, that you can find above.
The last few weeks have been rather busy, with our May football course, Jubilee celebrations and a couple of our new projects in the closing stages of being released! The coaching blogs haven’t stopped and will be returning next week!
So, your collection is growing and new shirts have been identified. As easy as it is to identify what you want next, there is the small factor of applying a cost, in securing your next target. Some shirts will be deemed by some as smaller purchases, where as older, more vintage items can incur a very large cost.
Independent of your budget, you’re contributing to your own collection, with everyone having completely different reasons. Some of these could be;
Starting off – You are new to collecting and are enjoying the anticipation of the journey you’re about to embark on. There are huge opportunities out there, where you could be reunited with some shirts or encounter brand new ones.
Going through growth – The collection is well underway and you’re collecting further shirts. These could be new finds, a certain collection evolving or the start of a new club/era/size etc etc.
Finishing a collection – I’ve seen some fabulous collections on social media and there must be a sense of excitement, when you’re near the end of a certain journey. If you are only 3 or 4 short and these became available, then this could be a reason to make an exception on breaking your budget.
Selling – Some collectors purchase the shirts, to then sell in the future. From researching, a lot of shirts hold their value and also increase over time. While this method incurs a cost, the money could be made back quite quickly or generate a profit.
While this list isn’t exclusive to every collector, it’s important to recognise that all of the reasons above will require a financial commitment.
Now, the question is, how much do I budget each month?
While this again will be different for every person, it’s important to set a budget, so you can control your spending. While a spend cap won’t force you to stop spending money, having a boundary in place can act as a deterrent for your brain. If you go against what you told yourself, no one will call the police (hopefully), but you will provoke a negative brain state, as you have broken your own agreement. This could then lead to the negative questioning that you could ask yourself, which could then in turn, provoke you into wondering why you purchased the shirt in the first place.
At the beginning of the month, I sit and plan a number of things. Work, appointments and anything socially based that needs to take priority. After this, finances are (roughly) broken down and considerations are sought.
Focusing closely on the kit collecting, I’ll ask myself 3 questions;
Can I afford it? (How much of my budget will be gone if I make this purchase?)
Do I need it? (Where does it fit within the collection?)
Does it fit me? (I try to buy all of my shirts in my size, just in case I do actually want to wear them. There are a couple of shirts that I have made an exception on and won’t fit me)
If the answers to all of those questions are objective as possible, then I can make a fairly quick decision. The problems sometimes arise towards the end of the working month, when purchases have already been made and the budget has been significantly reduced.
When I’ve identified some shirts that I really do like, I have been fortunate enough to have a number of sellers, who were patient enough to wait until I had available funds. While this habit isn’t one that would sustain the long term, it is useful if the other party is happy to agree. One thing I made sure of here, was that I regularly communicate and stick to my word. We all know what happens, once someone goes back on their word…..
To finish, once I’ve spent my money on a shirt or a number of shirts, it is a nice feeling when what you expected comes through the door. As mentioned in a previous post, I do regret a couple of my purchases, but on the whole I know exactly what I want.
Next week, I’m going to start detailing a number of new avenues, that I’m going to start venturing down and I’ll be taking my shirts with me!
We’re delighted to confirm that VRT, have committed to sponsor our upcoming Summer football courses. This is the first in a number of announcements, in preparation for our highly attended football events.
One thing we can confirm now, is that VRT will be providing a Park to Pro football shirt (champions league inspired), to the first 20 bookings of each course, those being July 25th – 29th and August 22nd – 26th. As well as this fantastic gesture, there will be a free gift for every attendee (all to be revealed).
Adam said; “I’m delighted to collaborate with such a highly respected company within the area. After speaking with company owner, John Grogan, he was keen to support our events during the summer break. The team at VRT deliver an outstanding service within the motor industry and I’m delighted to partner with them”.
VRT owner, John added, “’We couldn’t miss the opportunity to align ourselves with such a fantastic local business and support Park to Pro, with the development of budding young footballers, in any way we could”.
VRT are on social platforms, so please feel free to give them a follow;
Instagram – @vrtonline
Facebook – VRT
We’ll be announcing the full theme and plans for the summer courses at 6pm on Wednesday 8th June. Stay tuned, you will NOT want to miss this!
That question is something that all shirt collectors, may have asked themselves on more than one occasion. Initially something caught your eye and your brain really couldn’t fight the resistance, of making the purchase.
Was it the ‘fear of missing out’? That one grail you have waited for? Or, could it have been something extremely random and it just caught your eye in that moment?
Previously, I mentioned about the decision making process and something that gets above a certain threshold, which then pushes you to execute a certain action. In shirt collecting, you will have had your attention caught (shall we say) and then you act on the stimulus. The only thing stopping you from getting this shirt and allowing your cravings to control you, is the money!
As we know, it doesn’t grow on tree’s (as much as we would like) and eventually it will run out. The problem that so many people face, especially with online shopping, is that you don’t actually have the money in your possession. As all of your money is online, it may feel like an easy decision to make, as you can’t actually see it. Paying on ‘plastic’ is the given thing now, especially after COVID and this can allow for spending to get out of control.
Have I asked myself this question, in the past? Yes, I have and I do have a couple of regrets. Previously a bought 3 or 4 shirts that when I look back now, have no real place in my collection. I like anything from QPR (the club I support), Italian, South American, German and anything else, that really takes my fancy. My emotional attachment to QPR and the selected countries, is far higher than anything else around the continent. That said, that doesn’t mean I could make a ‘random’ purchase.
Take an old, vintage, classic shirt for example. This could be an ‘original’, from a top European club, that was hugely successful. We’ve seen this on social media a few times I’m sure and the following sounds familiar….
Social account – “I have a rare shirt dropping tonight at 7pm”. The word, rare, catches your attention and you draw your own conclusion, of what it could be. You may now be keen to see what’s ‘dropping’ at 7pm. You then clock watch as you don’t want to miss this! FEAR is now triggered in your brain, as it could be that something you’ve been waiting for.
….7pm arrives. The shirt is there in all of it’s glory. Mint condition and someone else has even said, “wow, this shirt is amazing and at this price, how has no one bought it?!” This may now trigger GREED in your brain. There is only 1 shirt available, you really need it (or you think you do) and then finally you may experience the next trigger. This last one is SOCIAL PROOF.
“I really want the shirt to show off on my page, add to my collection or to get those ‘likes’, when people see it”.
Before you know it, you’ve gone through the check out and the confirmation is in your emails. It’s cost you £150 and all of a sudden that dopamine hit has warn off. Do you ask yourself that familiar question, “why did I buy that shirt?”…
While this isn’t obviously exclusive to every shirt or collector out there, there might be occasions previously, when you could possibly have ignored the question marks raised in your brain. Did you ignore them or just by-pass, straight to the check out? You didn’t want to ignore those 3 previous triggers of FEAR, GREED and SOCIAL PROOF, so you gave your brain what it wants…the purchase of the shirt!
The collecting industry and shirts in particular, is a very good one to be part of, if managed correctly. You can most definitely build a collection on a budget and spend anything up to £100 plus, quite easily. While smaller purchases won’t (hopefully), bankrupt you, you can see how easy it is in spending money.
The self control that one has to have, in order to keep spending within their means, is something so important to enjoy this journey. I’ve only be actively participating for a number of months, but have experienced regret, excitement and disappointment already. When zooming out you have to ask yourself the question, “does it really matter that I can’t afford it or that I missed out?”. In al honesty, it doesn’t at all! We all have different circumstances and ones that allow us certain things in life. Respect the shirt collecting industry and what you can afford, then I’m sure you will be active for many years.
Next week, I’ll go through a number of methods on how I plan my spending each month and what I want to buy!!
Note – I have no regrets with the purchases in the picture, attached to this article!
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