Five high school friends are making “MAJK” at Cloverdale Athletic Park.
The grade nine students from Panorama Ridge created an an online soccer and sports-skills program called MAJK Training and they usually practice at the West Cloverdale park.
MAJK is an acronym of the first names of four of the five founders: Maxwell Newsome, Adam Deleeuw, Jaxon Bruce, and Kareem El-Sheikh. Team manager Sajan Kooner is the fifth member.
The five teens started out with a simple goal: they wanted to record their progress while they worked to build their skills.
“At first, we just wanted a way to keep track of our training,” says Kooner. “We go to the park everyday—when we’re not busy with homework—just to train.”
Kooner says soon after, he, Newsome, El-Sheikh, Deleeuw, and Bruce all decided to film and share their videos in an effort to help other footballers improve their skills and game.
Kooner says as the months progressed, their focus changed.
“As we kind of got our footing, as we got going, it became more about inspiring others.”
He says the pandemic pushed that. The boys were feeling the full brunt of COVID restrictions and decided to take MAJK to another level by pivoting to a broader audience.
SEE ALSO: Surrey to pony up one-third of cost to cover Cloverdale lacrosse box in 2022
SEE ALSO: COVID-19: ‘I would’ve liked to have seen them play’
SEE ALSO: ‘The spirit’s back’ at Surrey parks as soccer and baseball players return to practice
“It’s now about helping athletes of all skill levels. The point of our page now is to inspire others and bring positivity to others.”
Kooner says the shift was also driven by the interaction they were getting on their social pages.
“The more followers that we’ve gotten, the more we’ve shifted our focus to helping others. Our page has gained fans and supporters from all across the world.”
MAJK runs an Instagram account and a YouTube channel; the friends also plan to launch a website at some point.
“We post daily training videos with the goal to get more people active during these unsettling times,” he explains.
Kooner says the MAJK team got lucky on social.
“Once we hit 1,000 followers, a revolutionary Brazilian soccer company, Riobol, decided to partner with us by sending us some of their products to promote.” MAJK now has a “great working relationship” with Riobol. And a Surrey company, LB Vinyl Creations, also reached out. They offered the pals free, custom-made MAJK Training hoodies and they even designed the kids their very own logo (see logo at bottom of story).
The kids have just over 400 subscribers on YouTube, but they’ve amassed more than 4,000 followers on Instagram. And one MAJK Instagram post went viral, garnering nearly 400K views. Kooner says 70 per cent of MAJK’s followers are between the ages of 18 – 54 and are located in the U.S., Canada, India, Brazil, and the U.K.
The goal now is to increase followers on both of their social accounts and to inspire, educate, and lift up athletes around the globe. As part of that, the boys have added more content that appeals to a wide-range of sporting pursuits.
“We are proud, that as a group of young boys from Surrey, we have inspired people all over the world and of all ages,” adds Kooner. “The best part is we’re just getting started and can’t wait for what the future brings.”
editor@cloverdalereporter.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
MAJK Training’s logo. (Submitted)
