I’ve enjoyed being open about the progress of starting this blog. I’m not sure why, but I hope it comes off as authentic and not just confused. In that spirit, here’s an update.

I told myself when I started this blog that I’d take a year and try to keep some level of continuance. I began last July, meaning one year is at least on the horizon right now. I’ve enjoyed it, and despite writing elsewhere and trying to wrap up graduate school, I’ve kept posts coming at at least a slow pace. I didn’t expect more for this first year. That was my goal.

With graduation looming, I’d love to continue to develop this blog further. That would include:

  • Getting my own domain and professional web design. Something to make the layout look more up to date at least.
  • Working on images. I’ve made a strong rule for myself to only use photos with no copyright. This has given the blog a sort of blah feeling. At first it felt artsy, now it feels stale.
  • As time allows I’d like to post more often. This is an efficiency issue on my end. I’ve got at least six articles ready to review and two-three opinion pieces in various states of completion. The content is there, I just need to push the publish button more often.
  • Continue to define what exactly this site’s overall goal is. Right now I’ve enjoyed carving out a place in soccer media for history and research, how does that change over time? What could be added? What has been most and least effective?

Finally, as I consider the site’s future I’ve been thinking about the name, “The Soccer Scholar.” At first I liked it, I stole it from my brother’s nickname for the group of graduate students I play pick up soccer with. Now I’m wondering if it sounds arrogant? There are plenty of brilliant people writing about soccer, why did I think I was the one that should self-identify as THE soccer scholar? I put this to a vote on a Twitter poll and most people, 65% to be exact, thought the name was “fine.” Maybe I’m just thinking about it too much?

Either way, good things are happening here and I’m pleased to see the progress of the site. Thanks for reading!

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