Soccer Federico Alba: ‘Celebrity’ golf coach reveals hidden life of Sicily ‘Working with André Agassi and Steve Pate was amazing, the best work experience I’ve ever had’ Federico Alba has no agent, no manager, no assistants, no press agency – and ‘I write and send pictures’ Federico Alba said: ‘Working with André Agassi and Steve Pate was amazing, the best work experience I’ve ever had.’ Photograph: Antonio Calanni/Reuters
When Federico Alba was a child he went to the stables with his father and helped pull his pony, Shiela, around a course. Years later he made his own pony riding association, riding Shiela around the golf courses of Sicily and then internationally. “I think I was very close to people, at the end of the day,” he says. “I am absolutely down to earth.” Alba, it turns out, grew up on an estate in Rosina, Sicily, and attended top-of-the-range Catholic boarding schools. He believes that this background has shaped him well. When he landed an interview for a coaching job at André Agassi’s academy in Las Vegas he was a footballing naif, speaking no English. “I had played football, but I have never been more than a year. I thought it was the worst thing in the world to play football.” After getting the job, Alba found himself enjoying an extraordinary three years working under Agassi and Steve Pate.
“I worked with Agassi and Steve Pate and it was amazing, the best work experience I’ve ever had. They were both very open. I had never been as close to anyone as Agassi and Pate.” Alba was known as a hit-and-run joker on and off the course but discovered that he had hidden talents as a video producer, and began moonlighting as a freelancer. After graduating at the top of his PE class, he secured a contract filming professionals competing in a recent bank holiday swimming competition. “I don’t have agents, no manager, no assistants. I write and send pictures,” he says. The photos shoot up nicely. Alba’s got several film projects on the go.
His international clientele ranges from New Zealand to Bangladesh.
“The good thing about football is that you can meet and spend time with people from all over the world, it has always opened doors to people.”