Inspiring Conversations with Drew Beckie of Proving Ground Academy and CuboPro

Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Beckie.

Hi Drew, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I was born in Regina, SK, Canada, and spent the early years of my life there. My father and mother both worked in sports and business. My mother is a University Basketball coach and my father used sports to advance his business career. Eventually, my father had the opportunity to transfer down to Denver, CO in the early 1990s and we moved to Highlands Ranch, CO.

We spent a couple of years in Denver and my first memory was when my favorite team, the Colorado Avalanche, was relocated from Quebec City, to begin the 1995/96 season. I remember going to the old McNichols arena next to the old Mile High Stadium and I first had the inspiration to be a professional athlete. First in hockey!

As lives change, my father took an opportunity to help consult in the oil and gas industry in the late 90s and we moved to El Paso, TX for 18 months. This is where my love for soccer was really shaped and where I began with a team to develop my skills and language on the field. Most of my team spoke little to no English so I was having to adapt to learning Spanish; something I am very grateful for. Having the ability to now communicate in two languages is not only an advantage but I believe a respectful aspect of speaking with those in their native language.

We were back and forth quite a bit from Denver to Canada to keep in touch with family as we were waiting for the immigration status to come through. We eventually moved back to Denver in late 1998 and my whole family received green card status through my father’s work. To this day, I am very grateful to have my permanent resident status because of the economic and business advantage the United States provides.

During this time, my father had been diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma and in the late 90s, there weren’t as many treatments available as there is today. He did various treatments in the US and Mexico to prolong his life but ultimately succumbed to cancer in late 2001. This loss was quite difficult for me, my mother, and my three sisters. It was even harder economically as my mother was left with an immense amount of medical debt. We sold our house, moved into a smaller place, and lived off the proceeds of the sale for a few years. I really don’t know how my mom dealt with her grief, all the while raising us four kids, and working. She is an incredible person and instilled the value of hard work to achieve your goals.

I spent my whole youth playing many sports and this helped shape and build my appetite for wanting to become a professional. It took my mind off of the loss of my father and my improvement was being seen. In 2005-2006, I was given the opportunity to represent Canada on the youth national team and this is where I really learned about how hard it is to achieve the highest levels of play and the necessary work that goes into that. I was offered a contract at 15 to join the Vancouver Whitecaps with the chance to be taken over to Germany to sign in the German Youth Bundesliga. This was a route young Canadians had done in the past and we wanted to follow in their footsteps.

Canada had long suffered with native Canadians choosing to represent other countries at national team levels and so we wanted to help bring Canada to a new level of play. I chose to join the Whitecaps initially and left high school at Arapahoe HS here in Centennial, to pursue my dream. We had many great players and went on many trips to be seen by professional clubs in Europe. Ultimately after a few months, I decided to resign from my agreement and return to high school in Denver to pursue a scholarship at the University of Denver. My mother had always been in my ear about education and I agreed in the sense that if I got hurt in my contract, I wouldn’t have something to fall back upon. With this in mind, I applied through the NCAA to keep my amateur status even though I had made money as a professional already. After some conversation, they allowed my status and I was able to join DU in 2009.

After three years at DU, I had the opportunity to go to the MLS Superdraft and was taken by the Columbus Crew. I have just recently retired after eleven years of playing for many different clubs in different countries. I have learned an immense amount about the game, business, and relationship development. I have had many setbacks and great times. I have had medical emergencies within the game that I have been blessed to come back from. I have gone from almost medical bankruptcy and failure in many business ventures to building successful business models and helping bring together multi-million dollar deals.

Now, this is all not to pat me on the back but give another example to the age-old tale of try, try again until you make it. I have not made it yet, but I am working day to day to value my relationships, do well by those I work with, and keep in touch with those who helped me along the way.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No road is smooth! I don’t believe you can find enjoyment in the journey if it is smooth. I had a viral episode in 2017 during a trial with a European club that set me back almost a year. Financially set me back immensely. When on trial, you’re not technically protected by the club in the aspect of health insurance. It was not a normal situation, usually, you go into a trial protected but this time it was a very rare, one in 750,000-1 million odds that something like this would happen. I had a pre-contract with the club for x dollars over x years and so that gave me the confidence to join them and train.

We had a week off of training so I went from the Finnish club I was with to see my good friend in Stockholm, Sweden. During my week there, I developed some illnesses, coughing, night sweats, and headache. Some normal things for a cold. Unfortunately, the day before I was due to return to my club, I experienced cardiac arrest. Luckily my friend was close by and got me to the hospital. I spent two weeks there and was told I had viral myocarditis or inflammation of the heart muscle. The doctors were pessimistic that my career as a player was over. I could not sign my contract with the club as I would fail my medical. As a non-resident in Sweden, the beauty of their healthcare system protected me in a sense financially to a degree but the hospital bill was still immense.

I continued treatment in the US in Jacksonville at the Mayo Clinic as I had some gap insurance through my last club. The treatment was effective and I was able to return to playing seven months after my episode. I was not allowed to do more than walking for seven months so you can imagine how my body was coming back to play. I had lost 40 lbs and all my muscles. I was due to pay $80,000 in medical debt plus another $20,000 euros in Sweden. Luckily I had been a good saver and was able to cover most of the debt but it put me back many years.

This is not a pity story. Not feel bad for Drew’s story, just sharing to show that people go through things and I am better for it.

I have lost money as well in business ventures mainly as we went right into COVID, some due to the financial aspects of COVID but also trusting the wrong people. These things happen and you bounce back to create something successful.

As you know, we’re big fans of Proving Ground Academy (USA) and CuboPro Canadian/Dutch businesses. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I was a professional soccer player for eleven years. I recently retired as of the time of this writing.

In 2019, my sister, Janine Beckie, and I created the Proving Ground Academy. The foundation of this camp/clinic that we run annually in Denver, Centennial, and Parker areas is to give back to the community that is responsible for our success. Real Colorado was the club we played for. Their generosity and scholarship allowed us to achieve our dreams and get the training we needed to develop our game for the professional level. Without this financial help, my mother would not have been able to afford the training we needed. The travel, fees, coaches’ salaries, etc. were not affordable for us. Our goal going into 2023 and beyond is to make the Proving Ground Academy free for all kids through our own financials and sponsorship.

My sister won an Olympic Gold and Bronze medal with Canada and participated in the last Women’s FIFA World Cup in France. Played for Manchester City’s women’s team, and won the Women’s FA Cup and domestic WSL Title in England. She has done a lot in the game and continues playing today for the Portland Thorns in the NWSL. She really demonstrates how a girl who grew up in this community can achieve their goals.

I am not sure we can say what sets us apart other than the experiences we have had. There is no other combo for camp with our experience. We come from a lower income bracket to achieve hopes and dreams like many immigrants in this country. We never went hungry, I want to make that clear but there were times when the power and water went off, we showered at the rec center many times, and we were in and out of leases at different homes and apartments, but the main key in this is that we were better for it and achieved despite. Achieving despite tough conditions frames the mind to focus and repeat successful actions. Our motto for our Proving Ground Academy is Confidence. Execution. Repeat. Once someone gains confidence through repetition, you will execute and do it again, and again, and again.

My other business ventures are in Canada and Europe. I work with partners in Ottawa, Ontario, and The Hague, Netherlands. We work on sporting projects around the world from soccer to basketball to E-Sports.

What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
A few things that I try to remind myself of:

1. Don’t overcommit and underdeliver
2. Just show up. 50% of the hard work is done by just showing up.
3. Connect with each interaction in an endearing way. You don’t know what that person is going through but finding a way to keep in touch or remember an interaction is key.
4. Respect for the experience. The first thing I ever learned in pro sports was that experience cannot be taught.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.provinggroundacademy.com
• Instagram: @DrewBeckie
• Twitter: @DrewBeckie

Image Credits
Getty Photos and Canadian Premier League