Aberdeen bringing 'fresh' sporting ideas

NARISSA FRASER

SEAN Aberdeen is taking sport to the next level; not just in TT, but across the globe. Aberdeen, 27, is the founder and managing director of Aberdeen Sports Management, a TT-based sporting agency with connections in Mexico and Russia.

The company offers three main services: marketing (sponsorship proposals, brand development, event planning, community relations), business development (strategic planning, revenue generation, organisational development, sport development, fan engagement, E-Sports development) and sports agency services (player representation, contract negotiation, career planning, post-career planning, sports travel).

It was created in 2014 when Aberdeen placed second in a local entrepreneurship competition, just after completing his Bachelor's degree in sports management at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine. The competition was part of UWI's entrepreneurship boot camp, where the top three business plans were chosen for financial consideration by the Na­tion­al En­tre­pre­neur­ship De­vel­op­ment Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed (Ned­co). Aberdeen was awarded $30,000 to assist with the development of his business plan.

Speaking with Newsday, the former Hillview College student said, "I consider myself a sportsman, I've always been involved in sports. I started playing football at the age of six at Joe Public, but that's just what I did competitively. I love all sports."

In 2017, he received a scholarship to pursue his Master's degree in sports administration at the Russian International Olympic University in Sochi, Russia. He said the experience was great and his interest in sports management continued to grow because of the experience.

"That's where I got a lot of my experience from, because I was exposed to huge sporting events such as the World Festival of Youth and Students, which is a huge event held in September in Sochi, and I was manager of the football sector. There were about 25,000 competitors, 93 countries, and I was also there for the (FIFA) World Cup."

His team consists of four other members: chief agent Alberto de Abiega, interpreter/liaison officer Elvira Khatamtaeva, development director Nick Kudriavtsev, and chief consultant Chanelle Young. Aberdeen said he studied with de Abiega, Kudriavstev and Khatamtaeva in Russia.

He has worked with the TT Football Association (TTFA), Football Factory, and has been assisting with the inaugural Commissioner's Cup.

He believes sport in TT is not doing well and a lot of local talent is being wasted.

"Look at various sports: look at the cricket, look at the football, the youth football. I'm hoping we do well at Pan Am in Peru, but sports in TT need all the help they can get. The problem that we have here is that they have a lot of people willing and a lot of sport organisations willing and doing the actual ground work, but they may not have the international mindset and training. The agency is a very integral part because it enables us to connect bridges and provide opportunities for our talented athletes to explore their talents and give them international opportunities."

Asked what he hopes to achieve through the company, Aberdeen said, "I just want to develop sports. We need fresh ideas and fresh minds to help them (sporting organisations) continue doing the work they are doing. We have players who are talented and if you hear their stories, it is heartbreaking to know that their talent is being wasted because they don't have proper representation and proper people looking for their best interest. You can't replace everyone, it's just about working with them. That's our goal, working with them to help them become more developed."