“My biggest hobby outside of soccer and my family is fishing. It’s just a huge passion of mine.”
Before spending his days training and touring the nation performing at different MLS grounds, Inter Miami left back Ben Sweat spent most of his time in the water. A Florida native, Sweat was born and raised in Palm Harbor, which he described as a “little beachy town”.
“I grew up by the beach, by the water, I was always on a boat. My dad and I fished with my other two brothers, whether it was in the pond, going out to the beaches or the bridges,” Sweat reminisced. “I think I just kind of caught onto it from there. It just grew into something more serious every time I got up on water and when I got older I really wanted to be a die-hard angler.”
Sweat’s lifelong passion for fishing led him to come up with an idea for an online fishing apparel brand in 2017, but an endorsement deal he was involved with at the time prevented him from selling “fishing, hunting or outdoor apparel” as it was viewed as a breach of the contract. Fast forward two years to 2019 and Inter Miami’s defender was finally able to bring his business idea to life and begin selling products in September.
Before the ongoing MLS training moratorium, the 28-year-old would work on his business whenever his hectic schedule allowed him to, but with his daily agenda being more free than usual, he’s been able to dedicate time to his online fishing apparel brand more than ever.
“I’ve been able to focus on that these past few weeks, you know getting a ton of content on that. It’s not a job for me. It’s another passion just like football. So, it’s something I do and get to enjoy. If this develops and grows, fantastic. But as of right now I’m just kind of enjoying the process. I started this and have done the majority of this on my own, so it’s been a learning process. You know, with how to make a website, the marketing part and how to sell the products. I had never had to do that before, so everything is new to me and its learning steps,” he stated.
Regarding fishing in Florida since moving back to the state from New York in 2019, Sweat admits he has yet to explore as much as he would want to and that he would like to share his love for fishing with his Inter Miami teammates once life returns back to normal.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to fish too much down here. I’m still getting used to the area so I’m still kind of figuring out where to go and what to do. The times I have fished I’ve been back on the west coast, Everglades, Flamingo. My brother will bring his boat down or friends will bring their boats down, it’s kind of like a halfway meeting point for us.”
“I think there are guys that are interested in fishing and I’m sure we’ll figure something out once this coronavirus pandemic settles down. I could take a few of the guys out here at a time and sure we’ll make that happen,” he concluded.
