There are high school students who spend their summers sleeping in, and there is Hayes Benzan, whose day begins around 5:30 a.m., when he wakes up to run around Harvard Stadium as part of his summer soccer routine. He then dedicates the rest of the day to more training and advancing his self-made business, BenzBoots, a marketplace for the selling and buying of cleats.
The 17-year-old Benzan, who has lived on the border of Dorchester and Mattapan his entire life, began his soccer career in the Dorchester Youth Soccer House League, where his coaches recognized his talent at a young age. Benzan began playing for the league’s travel team and Valeo FC Boston Soccer Team. His favorite memories include playing soccer with his cousins, Diego and Mateo Buyu.
Currently a rising junior at Milton Academy, Benzan is a midfielder for the high school’s team as well as for the New England Revolution Youth Academy. While soccer has always been big in his life, it was an injury that introduced him to another passion.
“I broke my leg in a game. I fractured my tibia (shinbone). You can imagine how difficult that is for a player to have six months of not being able to do what he loves,” said Benzan. “I started reading a lot of personal finance business books and acquiring all this knowledge about business and about finance.”
As his recovery progressed, Benzan not only regained ability in his leg but he also recognized that soccer was more than just an activity – it provided him with a business opportunity that could better his family’s life.
“I wasn’t wealthy when I grew up, and I could see the financial struggles my parents went through and I always wanted to change that,” Benzan said. “I learned that the best way to do that is through a business because you can make money while sleeping and you don’t always have to work.”
He had seen teenagers on social media sites Instagram or Snapchat post photos of their cleats trying to sell them. “I tried to do this when I was younger, too, and I realized there’s not a marketplace for kids to do this,” he said.
With the support of his parents, Benzan created the online space that so many players seemed to be searching for. “My dad, he’s been one of my greatest mentors,” Benzan said. “He told me that I just got to go for it and to take imperfect action.”
Although BenzBoots currently operates through Instagram, the young entrepreneur expects his official website to be completed within the next few weeks. Once active, players will be able to upload pictures of their cleats to the site and sell them to other athletes in the area.
Benzan recognizes that websites like this exist for sneakers, but cleats need their own business. “Sneakers are about the value of them so it’s about keeping them clean, but cleats, it’s about the use of them. Cleats can have many lives.”
On July 8, Benzan held the first BenzBoots Fest, a 5-on-5 soccer tournament, at Pagel Memorial Playground in Jamaica Plain. More than 100 people came out to support him at the awareness-building event and those who played in the tournament have already asked for a second one this summer. (See a recap video below, courtesy Connor Nee Media.)
He is working with Jamaica Plain Youth Soccer and the Boys and Girls Club to provide underprivileged kids with cleats. As his business expands, he wants to add a donation section to his website so that more children can fall in love with the game he cares so much about.
Benzan also hopes to use the money he makes from his business to help build enclosed soccer courts throughout the city. He believes that with more accessible fields, kids in the area will become involved in soccer and let the sport positively impact their lives as it has his.
While he plans on pursuing his athletic and business passions in college, he still has two years of high school left. “The most enjoyable part about this whole process has been honestly seeing myself follow through,” he said. “I feel like so many people have business ideas but very few actually do something about it because of fear. Luckily, I’ve had my friends and family help me every step of the way.”
