In 2014 Rahbar Khan (Sharan) got accepted into Siena Heights University in Michigan with a sports scholarship. He played football at collegiate level in the US throughout his four years of undergraduate studies. By the time he had graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor’s in Accounting and Marketing, he had been captain of the varsity team for two years and had his name go down in their records for the most assists in a season, and being player of the year for 2016 and 2017. He experienced, first-hand, the transformative opportunity that training and playing at collegiate levels abroad could provide. The idea of NLSM had already started brewing at that time.
Next Level Sports Management (NLSM) is sports consulting agency and academy that assists young, aspiring athletes connect with collegiate and professional teams. They have a vast array of holistic, well-conceptualized services that aim to provide a prospective athlete with the best chance at a professional sporting career. Primarily they provide academy training, prepare personalized player profiles, and conduct mental health sessions. Their services also include preparing nutrition plans, analysing player statistics, providing player development guides and college recruitment consultancy. It is the custom-tailored nature of these services- analysing and prioritising the needs of each individual member- as well as the critical understanding that a professional athlete’s skillset needs to be more than just physical, that sets NLSM apart from all its competitors.
The services NLSM provides are indicative of their depth of knowledge regarding what it takes to succeed in this field. That kind of insightful planning has been made possible through the collective experiences of NLSM’s top management, as well as their various affiliations.
In August 2020, Sharan was at a football boot camp in Ottawa where he trained with professionals and other collegiate athletes. He was fascinated by how training with coaches and players from different backgrounds could expand his horizons and allow him to tap deeper into his potential. He realised he wanted to maximize the potential for all prospective athletes in Bangladesh. At the core of it all was the desire to allow young people in Bangladesh to play sports beyond just high school. “I wanted kids to be able to play, and also get scholarships.”
However, Sharan also understood the scope of the challenge he wanted to tackle. After completing the boot camp, Sharan called his brother Shayer and included him in his idea for a sports consultancy agency in Dhaka. At the time Shayer Khan was playing for the prestigious NCAA DII National Champions at the University of Charleston. He was also well-versed with the process of reaching out to coaches and getting recruited for college teams, having earned a 50% athletic and academic scholarship himself. They conceptualized NLSM together.
Baruch University graduate, Mehraj Sinha, currently in charge of brand management at NLSM, was the first person to become involved with NLSM outside the two brothers. He delved into the ideation process at its infancy, and being a UI/UX designer, he was the one responsible for developing NLSM’s logo and branding. Soon enough the group realised they would need a team in Bangladesh who shared their passion for football.
The difficult part was finding people in Dhaka who had a similar drive and were passionate about working towards youth development. NLSM was privileged to have an AFC ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ licensed coach, Shohel Rahman, join the team as the Head Coach. Amit Hassan, who previously coached the football team at BRAC University, served as the technical director and assistant coach for the academy. He’s also the agent of Jamal Bhuiyan, captain of Bangladesh National Team. After that the ball started rolling and the NLSM team took shape.
Alongside these initial members, the core founding team now consists of Shaikat Haque, who is responsible for the entire front end of the development, along with serving as the head of operations in Dhaka; Raiyan Rafiq, who is their recruitment specialist; and Renadh Chowdhury, their software developer, currently also employed by the Fox Corporation, who is working remotely from Texas, USA and supporting NLSM’s unique player database. With several part-time employees, four additional coaches and a personal photographer, the organization is now a team of 15 people, who are all equally invested in their goal of taking youth football in Bangladesh to newer heights.
The affiliations that NLSM have made over the past year are perhaps their most valuable assets. With the team formed, the next crucial element of their endeavor was to find the perfect grounds for their operations. “We approached The Stadium in Bashundhara RA with our concept,” relates Amit. “They sat with us, put in the effort to really understand our goal, and finally agreed to partner with us. We are very proud and honored to have them as our field partners.”
NLSM is also partnered with universities and academies across the globe. A few of their affiliated institutions include Siena Heights University, University of Charleston, New York University, Eture Sports in Spain, Soccer Management Institute in Italy and Manchester International Football Academy in the UK. The entire list of their affiliations is available on their website.
Finally, in February of 2021, NLSM was set to launch. However, there were still certain barriers to overcome first. “The concept of NLSM is very new and confusing to people. Parents can’t always easily grasp what it is,” expresses Sharan. Being the first training academy of its kind in Bangladesh, it was crucial for NLSM to get its operational model across to the public. In order to do this they held open zoom sessions prior to launching. “We had individual zoom calls with nearly forty families, explaining the concept and also the dedication that would be required on the part of the members,” relates Shayer.
The prospect of achieving an educational degree, alongside continuing one’s sports career, was key to the foundation of NLSM. “Parents in Bangladesh do not want their kids to only play. The degree is crucial for them. Parents also want their children to be disciplined and active. Sports has the ability to instill a competitive mindset for individuals which sets them up in other facets of their lives. NLSM provides that necessary structure to their members’ lifestyles.”
However getting recruited to play at collegiate levels abroad is no easy feat. “Parents are eager when they hear the prospect of receiving scholarships, but often don’t understand the athletic and academic ability needed. Playing a sport such as football is an everyday job. The prospective athlete needs to be in good shape already, prior to applying.”
That is where NLSM comes in. They prepare athletes to be ready, and already ahead when facing grueling pre-season training. “College teams are where all the best players from various high schools meet. And then they realize they aren’t the best anymore. You are competing with people all around the world. That’s what we want to prepare our athletes for,” says Sharan.
NLSM is unique in their use of AI technology, through a partnership with Health Automation Technology (HAT), to collect and analyse player statistics such as distance covered, calories burned, and number of correct passes made, and so on. Using this insight they create detailed player profiles for each athlete with the aim to make recruitment seamless for foreign coaches.
NLSM aids members with the application process too as part of their recruitment consultancy. “A college coach receives over two hundred emails a day,” says Sharan, “With our affiliations in place, being an NLSM member increases the chances of a student getting noticed that much more. Being a student athlete is a privilege. Hundreds and hundreds of people want it, but very few get in.”
Till date, NLSM has 65 members. They conducted physical practice sessions for the first three months of their operations, before the Covid-19 situation in the country required them to halt. However, they remain resilient in the face of that challenge. The crisis has opened up some opportunities as well, and NLSM is now conducting regular zoom workouts, ball mastery sessions and knowledge sessions, frequently bringing in coaches and professional players from renowned teams to impart their knowledge and expertise to NLSM athletes. They adhere very strictly to government regulations, and plan on resuming physical practices once the lockdown is eased.
The core values of NLSM are accountability, respect and communication. They believe that their adherence to these values is what allows them to stand out as a team. “There’s a massive gap of structured training in Bangladesh that needs to be fixed if we want to compete with the world,” emphasizes Sharan. “That is what NLSM is attempting to bridge. We don’t want more kids who stop playing after high school.”
