Before Jozy Altidore begins his daily morning on-field training grind — three hours’ worth of agility and shooting drills along with about five miles of running — the MLS star’s most important priority has been getting his 5-year-old son, Cameron, to school. Yet it doesn’t seem that long ago when the Toronto FC forward was the kid the soccer world began keeping their eyes on.
The year was 2006, and Altidore was a 16-year-old soccer prodigy, drafted 17th by the then-New York MetroStars (now Red Bulls) in the MLS SuperDraft. After playing three seasons in New York, Altidore went overseas, where playing for Spain’s Villarreal CF, he became the first American-born player to score in La Liga.
Altidore then had several brief stops in England’s Premier League as well as the Turkish and Dutch leagues. He then returned to MLS in 2015, signing with Toronto FC. Two seasons later, in 2017, after recording 15 regular-season goals, Altidore nailed the game-winning goal in leading Toronto FC to its first-ever MLS Cup title.
He may be best known, however, for his long and storied career with the U.S. Men’s National Team. In 2009, Altidore became the youngest player in team history to score a hat trick in a 2009 win against Trinidad and Tobago. He ranks third all-time among U.S. men in goals scored (42) and was a member of two World Cup teams (2010, 2014).
Altidore is now entering his seventh season with Toronto FC, which opens its MLS regular season this Saturday against CF Montreal. At age 32, the New Jersey native is wiser, more experienced as he becomes comfortable growing into his role as veteran team leader.
Off the pitch, Altidore is a devoted family man (he’s engaged to tennis star Sloane Stephens). He’s also branched into entrepreneurship, backing new health food brand Quantum Energy Squares. While his endeavors begin stretching even past his playing days, his routine remains consistent. He credits a deep mindfulness approach he practices regularly for his renewed focus. It’s one of several tips for success Altidore shares in this week’s Winning Strategy.
“For me, a regimen is important,” Altidore says. “I think for any pro, there are times when optimum training time is your top priority. But you need to recover and make sure you have that downtime to kind of let your mind free and get away from the game or sport or business. So there’s a fine balance. For me, I’m a family guy, so I’m with my son and my fiancée. We love to hang out and just be together.”
Failure is part of the game, and I think anyone who’s successful has failed. What they have in common is this will to win mentality, wanting to do things the right way — while understanding it’s not going to be easy.
For me, it was here in Toronto. We made it to the finals in 2016 and lost. You can ask anyone who loses the final game, it’s deflating. But we had an obsession about us, and we were able to make it back the next season and win. I think that’s a pretty cool example of failing, then persevering and turning it into a positive.
There is no magic pill, nor is there one thing you can do every day to ensure success. You gotta wake up and take the long road every day. When you’re able to realize that and have that in your mindset every day, then you can take the hits and failures with the wins.
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Ollyy
2. Have a Plan B Ready in Place
We [as athletes] can’t be doing this forever. We eventually get to that stage in which you have to think about what’s next. I think I’ve been very lucky to make some great relationships and meet some wonderful people. I’m always looking for different ways to shape my post-career. With Quantum, it gives me so much energy and I feel sharper and it keeps me fueled and fresh during training. I thought this was something that gives people a healthy alternative to a lot of things on the market. They need to train at an optimal level, and at the same time, be careful with what they’re putting into their bodies.
So this was part of my vision of helping people in a way I had throughout my career. It’s just another opportunity that excites me.
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Sumetee Theesungnern / EyeEm / Getty
3. Stay in the Present
There’s a saying a buddy of mine, Trevor Moawad, who’s my mental conditioning coach, told me: “Keep the main thing the main thing.”
It’s about staying present. I’m not perfect at it, but it’s something that I’m constantly working at and trying to find what works for me. I think with everything that’s going on in life, it’s difficult to stay in the now and focus on what’s in front of you. People love to talk about the future or past or what could be or could have been. I think it’s important to understand where you are right now and what you have to do to be successful as you can in that moment — and try to live that.
For me, I have a lot of conversations, a lot of visualizing and reflection in the sense of what you’re looking at, what you could have done or approached better, or what you could have eliminated or added. I’ve found a lot of joy in it and I feel like it helps me stay focused and centered, I think it would do a great deal for a lot of people.
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Dmytro Aksonov / Getty
4. Life Is a Team Effort
Having a good support team around you creates an energy that really helps dictate your mindset. It’s not only important to have people around you who are positive and helpful, but who are also constructive and are able to tell you the things that are important for you to hear, and help you improve on things you need to work on.
I think everybody can support you differently, but I think overall, just having someone to go through experiences, bounce ideas off of each other, or just at times to vent are necessary.
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Toronto FC/ Paul Giamou
5. Embracing Leadership
I think the luckiest thing we can do is inspire somebody else. And that’s the best thing we do as athletes — contribute to how you make people feel. I think having that ability and the platform to just remember that it’s important to be positive and constructive, but spark conversation in a respectful way. Right now we’re at a time when things are really raw and intricate, and we just have to use our platform to be respectful of one another and understand our messages reach a lot of people and to be mindful of that. In the end, you just want to try and be positive.
