Victory Shumbusho Interview

Hey everyone, it’s Jack here and I’m so incredibly thrilled to finally be releasing our interview with Victory Shumbusho!

(Unfortunately this interview was delayed as the audio needed some editing – but the final product is good.)

Every great player has had a different pathway on their way to becoming a professional soccer player, but I wanted to interview Victory because I think he has a story that is so inspiring. When I first read about him in a Canadian Premier League article, I was so inspired by his story that I wanted to know more about him.

We discussed his time in the Congo and we also spent time talking about what life was like in Uganda. He talks about how he started playing soccer in Uganda after moving from Congo. Victory speaks about how in Uganda, you had to be good enough to get on the field and play soccer. He had a desire to improve, and he asked a really good player to teach him tricks. Victory would do chores for the guy and in return, this player would teach Victory tricks and moves that he would practice. This really helped him develop his skills in a competitive environment.

Victory is someone who was persistent and he never gave up on his dream – Now he is starting to see the fruits of his labour by being a dominant striker at the U-Sports level and on the brink of playing in the CPL. I know if I was a coach of any CPL team, I would want him: fast, strong, and with a killer of a shot, Victory sounds like the whole package to me.

The Interview

There were a couple things that stood out to Andrew and I when we interviewed Victory.

First, was his knowledge of being a striker. I know quite a bit about positional tactics and what each position needs to do in different styles of play, but by no means am I an expert on the striker position. When Victory talked about being a striker, he was so descriptive that it really gave us a window into the “thinking” of a striker and he gave so many good tips for young players trying to excel in that position.

Tip: For young strikers trying to learn from someone who plays your position, make sure you listen to this interview.

Something that he has mastered is learning the positioning side of the game. Depending on how his teammates are positioned he knows exactly where the ball will be, which allows him to get into the positions he needs to put the ball into the back of the net. 

His knowledge of being a striker was not the only thing that really impressed me – his positivity and his visualization techniques also thoroughly impressed me.

Victory is one of the younger players that we have interviewed but he is certainly someone who has had one of the most positive mindsets – if not the most positive mindset of anyone that we have interviewed. (Matthew Arnone also talked about having a positive mindset in his interview.) He talks about how to handle injuries and setbacks. He looks at life on the bright side, every single day, and that is something that I admire very much about him.

Visualization

Another thing that I found interesting about him was his visualization.

He has a really cool method of visualizing that I just love. What he does is breaks down his visualization into different parts of his game, like shooting. The other thing that he does that I found so fascinating is that he writes something that he wants to focus on in the game on his wrist so he can remember to focus on it and do it (for someone who writes things on my hand – I really identified with this 😁!)

Final Thoughts

Overall, interviewing Victory is a definite must-listen. Discover how Victory fell in love with soccer, came to Canada, his mindset and sports psychology, his time with the Vancouver Whitecaps, what it was like being drafted by Pacific FC and Pa-Modou Kah, his time in U sports, and more.

Follow Victory here on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Check out our interview with Victory Shumbusho: