Ionut Rada, football player who found his purpose - preacher of sports

Where the former footballers encountered difficulties in finding a path at the end of their career, Ionut Rada chose to overcome the obstacle precisely by what he can do - sports. And he also found a way to become a true apostle of the exercise, the online.

It's hard to see yourself one day, when you're young, at the end of a road that meant everything until then. What do you do? Where do you go? What is your occupation? The old boots are set hanging on the nails.

With two training sessions a day, with a strict training schedule that takes up all your time, the life of a footballer requires total dedication if you want performance. This is how Ionut Rada's professional activity took place, a former international who played for teams such as Rapid, Steaua, CFR Cluj, Karlsruhe or Bari.

Then he was faced with the issue of retirement, which he is not accustomed to even now, at 39 years old.

"It wasn't easy when I retired. It's one thing to be a player, it's another to be a manager or a club manager. So I started going to classes. One of those courses was at the Sport Business Academy, and I am participating for the third year in a row now, where I have tried to learn as much as possible to develop and understand what this part of management means. After that I took the personal trainer courses and I am currently accredited at the level of the European Union, where I can train in any gym. And there, with all the experience I had, it was completely different. Then I went to diction classes, I did public speaking classes with Oana Pellea. I tried to grow as much as possible, especially during the pandemic. I tried to participate in as many courses as possible, I also did scouting courses with a team from England through coach Mario Marinica, who is also part of this program. And at the same time we developed The Rada Way project," Rada told AGERPRES.

The popularity gained on the football field helped the former player to increase his number of followers on social networks, dedicating a large part of his time to this activity.

"I'm just starting out, I am trying to come up on every platform with different content, from Tik-Tok to Twitter and Facebook, YouTube or Instagram. It depends a lot on what you want. I cannot tell if it's a business, maybe it is rather a big word, but it's clear I'm going in the right direction. It takes a lot of work and patience. But again, I think it's an area where you can make money. We have enough examples of vloggers or YouTubers earning significant amounts, but just like in any profession, it depends on what you want, how fast you want to get there, what amounts you want to earn and what you are willing to do," says Rada.

The promotion of sports in society is considered by Rada as an obligation of those who work in the field. He chose to promote sports in schools and high schools across the country, while building his own exercise community, believing that physical activity helps not only professionals.

"People need to understand the importance of sport in their lives and not when your doctor tells you to do it. I ate, I rested, I played sports, these things should not be missing from the daily activity of a normal person. People generally need encouragement, sport doesn't have to be scary, you don't have to be at 200 pulse, and it's not just for those who want to achieve great performance."

"Many tell me what beautiful things I do, but they immediately ask me, 'But do you earn anything from this thing?' I certainly earn away below the salary from Steaua or CFR Cluj, but an increase can be seen and it is obvious that this name is growing slowly, slowly and that the feedback is a positive one".

For the near future, the former footballer wants to develop The Rada Way concept as well as the sports equipment one and write a book.

Asked if education and football can go hand in hand, Ionut Rada absolutely agreed.

Through the #ReinventedLives project, AGERPRES broadcasts a series of materials aiming to bring to the attention of the general public the issue of professional reconversion among Romanian athletes and the difficulties encountered in changing careers.AGERPRES