Latest news with #youthsports
New York Times
2 days ago
- Health
- New York Times
What's the best way to coach youth sports? We asked 3 former pros turned coaches
Editor's Note: This story is a part of Peak, The Athletic's new desk covering leadership, personal development and success through the lens of sports. Peak aims to connect readers to ideas they can implement in their own personal and professional lives. Follow Peak here. More than anyone, professional athletes have been exposed to a wide range of leadership and coaching styles. When they leave professional sports behind and start coaching young athletes, they have plenty of experience to draw from. Advertisement We checked in with three former professional athletes who now coach youth sports to gather their advice for other coaches and parents. Drew Stanton was an NFL quarterback for 14 seasons and now coaches his son's football and baseball teams, as well as helping run a youth football organization. He said he's noticed that kids are harder on themselves now than they were when he was a young athlete. As youth sports become increasingly intense, he often reminds kids why they're playing in the first place. 'We just become so wrapped up in the results of it as opposed to, 'What is the intentionality behind what you're trying to do?' ' Stanton said. 'Control the controllables. You get wrapped up in somebody else's success, or you start comparing yourself, and you start to rob these children of their childhood because we've become hyper-focused on making them professionals at such a young age. 'I think the ability to teach life lessons through sports has always been my approach.' He encourages his athletes to focus on setting their own goals and acknowledge that mistakes are learning opportunities. 'We have to stick to the process,' he said. 'Sitting there and yelling or trying to break them down to build them back up, that doesn't need to happen. These kids already break themselves down enough, or they look to social media to gain their understanding or worth from how many likes they get.' Travis Snider, a former MLB outfielder, now leads a youth sports company that offers resources and education for parents and coaches. It's essential, he said, that adults remind athletes that failure isn't a bad thing. 'We're trying to teach kids more skills, but with that understanding of where they're at emotionally and physically,' he said. 'These are just experiences that give us an opportunity to learn and grow, and oftentimes failure is a much better vehicle to learn these lessons and grow and become a better version of yourself.' Advertisement Matt Hasselbeck spent 18 seasons as a quarterback in the NFL. He spent one season playing for Pete Carroll, someone he viewed as completely authentic. It's what he admired about Carroll. But now, after coaching high school football, he realizes just how important it is to find your own identity. 'Put in some speed bumps for yourself,' Hasselbeck said. 'Maybe even write some stuff down. Like, here are some non-negotiables — who I am as a coach.' Hasselbeck, who has non-negotiables like no cursing and putting health and safety above all else, has picked up a few examples. When his son, Henry, played for former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, Dilfer had a rule that no one was allowed to sit at a new table during a meal unless all the other tables were full. 'So if you just picture there's 10 seats at a table, it's not a table of four, then somebody else starts a table of 10,' he said. 'No. Every table has to be full before you can start another table. That's just community. No one gets left out. No one's not valuable. No one doesn't have friends.' One year, when Hasselbeck coached high school football, a lot of 'mental mistakes' happened along the offensive line, he said. When Hasselbeck approached his offensive line coach and suggested they simplify a few things, the coach, who was also a math teacher at the school, replied, 'No. No, that's not the issue. This is one of the smartest kids I teach. He's capable. This is just a teenage boy having a focus problem.' That's when Hasselbeck began to understand the strong link between learning the little things about his athletes and improving their play. 'Like, 'Hey, we know this guy struggles learning. Let's make his menu a little smaller so he can do less better. It'll help him succeed. He's got enough on his plate,' ' Hasselbeck said. 'I think just doing less is better.' Advertisement To him, even small things, like knowing what someone's commute from home or family structure looks like, can make a significant difference. Stanton feels strongly about the lessons we can learn from sports, including trust, respect, and effective communication. But to him, embracing adversity is one of the most important lessons he wants to pass along to his athletes. 'I'm telling the kids, 'I want you to be comfortable when it's uncomfortable,'' he said. 'Because we're all in different situations. If you can learn to deal with adversity, if you can learn to deal with all these other things and be able to find a way to persevere, that's how you grow. Eventually, you're going to find something or somebody that's better than you. And what do you do? How do you respond?' To Stanton, it can be as simple as changing the way you speak to an athlete when they make a mistake. Encouraging them, rather than reprimanding them, can help a young athlete develop a better outlook over time. Youth sports require more specialized training, travel, and equipment than ever before. Snider said parents and coaches can't let the time and money they invest in young athletes turn into added pressure. 'It's tough to differentiate your child and their experience in sports versus the time, money and energy that you're investing in and what that return on investment looks like,' he said. 'We built a culture that is geared towards performance and achievement. But your failure and success are not going to define who you are.' Snider believes that if parents and coaches can work on themselves and gain a deeper understanding of how their experiences influence their responses, it can be the difference between a positive experience for a young athlete and a negative one, which is particularly important at such an impressionable age. Advertisement 'We don't recognize how our past experiences show up in those moments when our son or daughter strikes out or misses the kick and how that perpetuates something inside of us that we haven't processed or we weren't aware of,' Snider said. 'We're a product of our childhood and what that generation of parents and coaches did and did not do during that experience. What can we do? It's making child development a priority.' Elise Devlin is a writer for Peak, The Athletic's new desk covering leadership, personal development and success. She last wrote about how to deal with failure. Follow Peak here. (Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos: Nick Cammett / Diamond Images, Rex Brown / Getty Images)
CTV News
2 days ago
- Lifestyle
- CTV News
Olympian Syla Swords visits Sudbury school, inspires students
Canadian basketball Olympian Syla Swords returned to her hometown Friday, visiting Alexander Public School to share her journey with students. Syla Swords at Sudbury school Basketball Olympian Syla Swords talks with students at Alexander Public School in Greater Sudbury, Ont., on May 30, 2025. (Lyndsay Aelick/CTV News Northern Ontario) At 18, Swords became the youngest woman ever to represent Canada in basketball at the Olympics, competing with the Senior Women's National Team at the 2024 Paris Games. 'I just think it's so important to give back to the community, especially a town like Sudbury, where it's so small,' Swords said. 'There aren't a lot of opportunities athletic-wise, so just to be able to show the kids that you can do what you want no matter where you're living, no matter where you're from.' Brielle and Audrey Dewar Basketball great Syla Swords' cousins, Brielle and Audrey Dewar, talk with CTV News about her visit to their school on May 30, 2025. (Lyndsay Aelick/CTV News Northern Ontario) The visit came at the request of Swords' cousins, Brielle and Audrey Dewar, who asked her to speak to their class. The school expanded the event to include students in Grades 3 through 8. Christine Chisholm Christine Chisholm, the principal of Alexander Public School in Greater Sudbury, Ont., talks with CTV News about Olypian Syla Swords visit to the school on May 30, 2025. (Lyndsay Aelick/CTV News Northern Ontario) 'The biggest gift we can give our children is to light that spark, to give that sense of pride,' said principal Christine Chisholm. 'She's created such a buzz in the school. They're so excited to meet her. And truly, I think sports really lends itself well to that – setting goals and actionable goals. They're all transferable to anything.' Swords, who plays for the University of Michigan, emphasized the importance of pursuing passion in any field. 'It doesn't matter what realm it's in, whether it's sports, academics, anything like that,' she said. 'It's important to invest yourself in something and find your confidence through that and enjoy your life through that.' Syla Swords talks in Sudbury Basketball Olympian Syla Swords address a gym full of Grade 3-8 students at Alexander Public School in Greater Sudbury, Ont., on May 30, 2025. (Lyndsay Aelick/CTV News Northern Ontario) Currently in her off-season, Swords will join Canada's under-19 team this summer and compete at GLOBL JAM. Looking ahead, she hopes to split her time between playing professionally in Europe and the U.S. while chasing her ultimate goal: an Olympic gold medal.
National Post
3 days ago
- Business
- National Post
TD Invests in the Growth of Cricket with New Grassroots Programs Across Canada
Article content Article content TORONTO — Cricket continues to gain momentum in Canada—from grassroots fields to the international stage—and this summer, TD is proud to celebrate the sport's growth with community-focused programs and events, developed in collaboration with Boundaries North and Cricket Canada, to inspire the next generation of players. The summer kicks off with the Toronto Blue Jays TM hosting Cricket Day at the Park presented by TD on Saturday, May 31 at Rogers Centre. As part of TD's sponsorship with the Blue Jays™, the event invites baseball fans to explore the connections between cricket and baseball while celebrating Canada's growing cricket culture. Article content Following Cricket Day at the Park, TD will officially launch TD Young Wickets. The national program offers free, in-person sessions in select communities across Canada, introducing young players to cricket through fun, inclusive, and skills-based instruction. Article content 'It is an honour to work alongside Cricket Canada to help bring cricket to more communities across Canada,' said Michael Armstrong, Vice President, North American Brand and Corporate Sponsorship. 'The Blue Jays Cricket Day at the Park and the TD Young Wickets are all about introducing the sport to more Canadians and we are proud to be a part of creating opportunities for young players to discover the game.' Article content In addition to the in-person clinics, TD Young Wickets will offer a series of free virtual coaching sessions, led by a team of internationally accredited coaches. These sessions will give players and coaches from coast-to-coast access to high-quality training and insights. Article content The launch of TD Young Wickets comes as Canada prepares to host the ICC T20 World Cup Americas Regional Qualifier on June 15 —a pivotal moment for the Canadian Men's National Team as they pursue a second-ever World Cup appearance. TD's summer celebration of cricket reflects its ongoing commitment to supporting sport as a platform for connection, confidence, and community. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
New York Times
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Tears, anger and the fall of Blackburn Rovers Women: ‘No one will trust this club again'
The post-match huddle was stained with tears. On the final day of the season, Blackburn Rovers' Women's Under-16s had beaten Manchester City 2-1, but there was little to celebrate. Through these tears, the young girls sang the same refrain: this was to be their last game together. The coaching staff attempted to placate them, insisting the future was still bright and that they would all be together next year. Advertisement But three days later, the women's setup was uprooted, plunged into an uncertain future. 'They knew… There was a sense, more than there were facts,' said a source, who, like all mentioned in this article, wanted to remain anonymous to protect relationships. 'No one will trust this club again.' On Tuesday, May 20, Blackburn Rovers announced their senior women's team were to be demoted from Women's Super League 2 — they had finished 10th in English football's second tier — after the club decided against meeting the required licensing criteria to retain their tier-two status. The Lancashire club had been issued a seven-day deadline by WSL Football — the legal entity in charge of running English football's top two women's tiers — to state its intentions to meet increased standards, which require all first- and second-tier teams to be full-time operations as of the 2025-26 season. The deadline passed with no word from the club's ownership, the V H Group, which took over the club in November 2010. That Tuesday morning, a 9:30am women's coaching staff meeting was abruptly cancelled. Coaching staff were then summoned onto a video call at 3:30pm later that afternoon, where a club human resources representative, along with the club's chief financial officer, Matt Wright, stated the team was being relegated. 'Every question that anyone asked on the call was met with 'We can't speak about that yet',' a source said. 'They were unapologetic. They said not to speak to anybody, we were still under contract. It was like speaking into a vacuum.' Blackburn responded to The Athletic's request for comment, saying that players were informed the previous week that the club was unable to offer the players a contract due to the uncertainty surrounding which division the team would play in next year. Advertisement In a statement last week, the club said the decision was made after a 'comprehensive review' of the demands on second-tier clubs, which had 'become unsustainable under our current model.' The 'growing financial and operational constraints' tied to staying in the division, the club added, could no longer be 'sustained under the club's current financial framework'. 'Due to the division's increasingly demanding criteria, our continuing participation in WSL2 was left unachievable,' Blackburn told The Athletic in a statement on Tuesday. No clarity has since been provided on the future of the women's setup, including what tier the senior team will operate at, employment status for staff members or the consequences for the club's Professional Game Academy (PGA) licence for talented players aged from 14 to 20, and the young players in their care. PGA status is awarded to WSL and WSL2 clubs, while third-tier clubs are permitted to pay for a one-year licence. Regulations for the women's pyramid state that any club that withdraws from a league can only re‑enter at least two tiers lower, where teams operate on a volunteer basis with no elite pathways. Rovers could follow the precedent set last season by Reading, who dropped into the fifth tier after electing not to fulfil tier-two licensing requirements. According to sources, the club initially planned on announcing the news via a statement on social media at 4pm on Tuesday, almost immediately after senior management were told of the decision, but agreed to first-team coach Simon Parker's request for a delay in making the decision public so that players could be informed personally and not find out about it on social media. Players and staff were asked not to speak to the media. The club told The Athletic that as their league status remains to be confirmed, speculation in the public domain would be unhelpful. Players continued to attend matches and training. Meanwhile, parents privately discussed where to go next, hoping their children might not pick up on their panic. 'What was really sad was on the last training session on Monday, the coaches, the physios, everyone put on such a brave face,' said one parent of an academy player. 'But you could just tell what was going to happen. It's completely irresponsible.' As the season drew to a close, rumours about the future circled with growing force. The angst led to emails, seen by The Athletic, to the club's HR requesting clarity for the future of the academy and what staff members should tell concerned parents. Staff received emails stating updates would be 'provided as available'. Links to an Employee Assistance Programme were attached. The club told The Athletic that the head of women's football, Nick Birchall, was 'always open to discussion with the staff'. '(The club) were cancelling meetings with us,' said a source. 'That's when I knew something was not right.' According to the club's statement last week, part of the decision to withdraw the women's team was based on the full-time move to the club's main stadium, the 31,367-capacity Ewood Park, and the 'resulting absence of the substantial matchday commercial revenue and sponsorships required to support continued investment at Tier 2'. Advertisement Rovers Women previously played home fixtures at the County Ground in Leyland, a 2,300-capacity ground owned and operated by the Lancashire County Football Association. Women's games played at a club's main stadium usually result in losses because of the relatively low attendance compared to senior men's games and the operational costs involved. Everton confirmed earlier this month that their decision to move their women's team to Goodison Park full-time would result in losses that the ownership was prepared to underwrite. Separately, according to multiple sources, Rovers' ownership were not open to exploring a proposed potential investment into the women's team last season. The interested potential investor, according to sources, spoke to women's team staff and former CEO Steve Waggott — who left his post two days after the announcement, ending a seven-year stay at the club — about partnerships and stakes in the team, as well as a role as a director of the women's team. When the discussions were presented to the ownership, they dismissed the idea. 'It was not even entertained,' says one source. Sources speculate that perhaps the ownership were fearful that external investment in the women's team could further galvanise fan movement against the ownership. When asked about this by The Athletic, the club would only say they had 'never received any offer of investment from an external company or individual regarding the funding of the Women's game'. For the 2023-24 season, Rovers Women played seven matches at Ewood Park before a full-time move ahead of last season. According to Rory Larmer, a member of the Blackburn Rovers Trust and Supporters' Coalition — which was formed in January of this year in response to fan concerns about the future funding of the club, given the non-footballing issues the owners face overseas — the Blackburn's decision to relegate their women's team is not an isolated event but rather a sign of the uncertain future facing the club. Advertisement 'At a time when you're supposed to take down barriers, the owners have just put one up. It's never been about promotions or big money for Blackburn Rovers,' Larmer told The Athletic. 'It's just about the community, the town and the football club. And from a very basic perspective of treating the town, the teams with an ounce of respect. That's not there.' Larmer was saddened that there was no longer an elite pathway for younger players at the club. 'The fundamental point in 2025 is that that little girl in Blackburn has been told they don't want to fund them anymore (at an elite level) because they're expendable.' For many staff, players and parents at the club, the deficient communication throughout the season produced a weary sense of deja vu. Last summer, staff in the women's setup waited until the start of July, nearly two months after the end of the previous season, to hear what budget would be provided to them by the ownership. Clubs generally approve budgets shortly after the end of a season. In the 2023-24 season, Rovers Women finished a club-record high of sixth in the Championship, boasting club records in points total (36), goals scored (25) and attendance (1,591 versus Southampton in 2024). Despite increasing training from three evenings a week to four days, success on the pitch and a rebrand, players and staff remained on low wages, according to sources. Average player salaries remained at £9,000 ($12,152) — the highest was £15,000. Blackburn Rovers Women, which is owned by the football club, reported a £343,000 loss for the 2023-24 financial year — the highest under the V H Group ownership and up £141,000 from the previous year and £257,000 from the 2019-20 season. It was put down to increased standards from WSL Football, along with travel expenses. According to sources, the ownership did not wish to commit more than £100,000 into their women's team's playing budget for the 2025-26 season, which would not meet the minimum threshold introduced by WSL Football. Advertisement The club did not comment on the figure to The Athletic other than to say it spent around £500,000 on the women's team for the 2024-25 season. The club confirmed further cost-cutting was made in the women's academy last season, as the under-21s were first removed from the Pro Games Academy's Games Programme (a system that provides competitive matches against other academies) before being scrapped altogether, with the under-21s players moved into the first team to make up squad numbers. Integration proved difficult, with many players not ready for the step up to senior football and the first team having to adjust to the different needs of the younger, less experienced players. Many players were sent out on dual registration to lower national leagues for development, yet were still required to train with the first team to hit requisite contact days. 'That was a sign that the owners didn't have a lot of money,' Rachel Dugdale, the defender who joined the club last summer from Reading, told The Athletic. The stark reality at Reading made Blackburn's decision to meet minimum requirements for the 2024-25 season look positive, even hopeful, for Dugdale, who said she was left with no other club to turn to given Reading's late relegation on June 30, 2024. According to Dugdale, there was no communication about the potential relegation of the team at any point in the season, nor any contact from a member of the ownership or board. 'Even the last week of training, the manager was like, 'Oh, I have a meeting with the board on Friday. I think it's gonna be all fine. We're just waiting for the budgets to be approved. Everybody within the club is happy with it. It's all been signed off by the CEO, Steve Waggott.' 'We were getting positive reinforcement throughout the season,' the defender said. 'We didn't think the owners would follow Reading's suit and just completely collapse.' First-team players like Dugdale, along with academy players from under-14s level upwards, are uncertain of their future at Blackburn. Academy trials at other clubs with elite pathways have already taken place, meaning players, some of whom have been invited into England's talent development pathways, who chose to remain with Blackburn, are now potentially without an academy pathway for the impending season at a crucial juncture in their careers. Senior players are also limited in which teams they can join, with most WSL and WSL2 squads having already started making plans for the next season. Advertisement 'It's irresponsible from the club. These players are going to have to grab whatever comes their way, even if it isn't the right thing for them, because that's the desperation of the timeline,' said a source. According to one mum of an academy player, the love her daughter had for playing for Rovers kept her faith that the club would make the right decision. 'All of the girls loved Rovers,' she said. 'They didn't want to go anywhere else. Even last week, when I told my daughter I needed to contact Liverpool, Manchester United, City, Everton, she just burst into tears… It's been absolutely heartbreaking. The girls have all been crying. They feel betrayed.' Rovers' under-14s were the only team outside London to win a PGA trophy this season, and Rovers were the only women's club to have two teams (the under-14s and under-16s) reach a final, the under-16s ultimately losing to Tottenham Hotspur. 'These kids are punching above their weight,' said a source. The club has a strong legacy and commitment to player production (including England's Euro 2022 champions Keira Walsh, Ella Toone and Georgia Stanway, despite operating in the third tier of English football at the time). In December 2024, the club celebrated 700 consecutive men's league games featuring at least one academy player. Yet, academy players were not provided with winter coats, raincoats or tracksuit bottoms, while the senior women's players were given kits made for men. 'The top of the women's game is flying,' said a source. 'They're doing everything that they can to really invest and do a great job. At the other end of the women's professional tier, they're sinking quickly.' For Dugdale, she is back to where she started, the familiar forced purgatory, first experienced with Doncaster Belle Rovers (the storied club opted against applying for the restructured top two tiers due to financial reasons), then Reading last summer and now Blackburn. Advertisement Blackburn's crisis is the latest in a string of cautionary tales for English women's football's continued dependence on men's football, she said. Historically, when clubs begin to struggle financially, women's teams — often a loss-making asset — are one of the first areas where cuts or limits. 'Women's teams are just bolted onto the men's right now,' said Dugdale. 'Who's holding those people accountable? 'I'm frustrated that this happens, and the next day you go on the news and there's literally nothing on it. People don't understand the impact that it has on players, the girls in the academy, the perception of women's football as a whole.' (Illustration: Eamon Dalton/ The Athletic; top photos: Matt McNulty/ Getty Images)
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Ousmane Dembele, the ‘paranormal' PSG talent who knows all about the Bolsheviks
Control with the inside of the left foot, thump. Control with the inside of the right foot, thump. Control with the left thigh, this time, the ball arriving a bit higher. Touch to the right, thump. The ball smacking against the wall and springing back towards him through the puddles, the spray flying off it. The rain hammering down, his sodden tracksuit clinging to his skin. The noise of the ball hitting the wall echoing around the square. Over and over: right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. Control, thump. Control, touch, thump. Advertisement Ousmane Dembele is still a child, but he is already obsessed with football. If his friends are around, he plays with them: furiously contested kickabouts on the bare concrete of his neighbourhood, a pair of trees or a couple of backpacks for goals. If they are not, or if they are deterred by the weather, he comes here, to a playground a stone's throw from the high-rise apartment block he calls home, and wallops his football against the side of a squat red-brick building with a sloping terracotta-coloured roof. It is an easy, carefree pastime, but even at this young age, he knows that it will make him a better footballer; every touch and every shot strengthening his bond with the ball, sharpening his muscle memory. Control, thump. Control, touch, thump. The spindly youngster is at the beginning of a journey that will successively turn him into one of the most promising, one of the most unfortunate, one of the most maddening and ultimately one of the most celebrated football players in the world. At Rennes and then Borussia Dortmund, he is the very epitome of footballing potential: a whirlwind of sidesteps and breezy dribbles, a broad smile forever stretched across his face, a trail of befuddled opponents forever floundering in his wake. At Barcelona, after a record-breaking €135million transfer, things get complicated: injuries, recurrent complaints about his time-keeping and professionalism, the fear that his potential is destined never to be truly fulfilled. But the planets have aligned at Paris Saint-Germain, where his abrupt transformation into a prolific goalscorer means that he approaches Saturday's Champions League final against Inter in Munich accompanied by a higher level of expectation than perhaps any other player. Should PSG prevail, the Ballon d'Or could well be his. As he stands on the brink of career-defining glory, this is his story so far. By Moustapha Diatta's reckoning, he was five years old when he first met Dembele, who was one year older. The two boys' mothers were close friends and their families lived in the same building in La Madeleine, a disadvantaged district of the Normandy town of Evreux, which lies 60 miles west of Paris. Advertisement 'The days often revolved around football,' Diatta tells The Athletic. 'We'd have kickabouts with friends at the foot of our building or we'd challenge a team from another neighbourhood to a game. 'Ousmane always had a ball with him. And he had a gift. He could already shoot with both feet and his dribbling was instinctive. The results were pretty incredible.' A child of the 2000s, having been born in May 1997, Dembele grew up idolising players such as David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Lionel Messi. The dream of following in their gilded footsteps took root at an early age. 'When we were young, he told me several times that he was going to become a great player,' says Diatta. 'That's one of his character traits: when he wants something, he does everything to get it.' Dembele was seven years old when he and Diatta joined local club ALM Evreux (later to become Evreux FC), whose pitches lay a 10-minute walk away across the Boulevard du 14 Juillet. The first time Evreux youth coach Gregory Badoche laid eyes on him, he could scarcely believe them. 'He stood out a mile,' Badoche recalls. 'It was almost paranormal: the quality of his sidesteps, his dribbles, the crazy changes of rhythm. He was a little shrimp, you know, a very slender guy with legs like toothpicks, but his dribbling ability was insane.' Interest from major local clubs did not take long to arrive. Le Havre and Caen both made overtures, but Rennes won out after offering to help Dembele's family — his mother, Fatimata, his brother and his two sisters – to relocate to Brittany with him. Expectations, on both sides, were high. 'There was a recruiter from Rennes called Armand Djire who used to come and watch him regularly,' says Badoche. 'When Ousmane was still only 12, Armand said to me: 'If he doesn't become a professional, I'll end my career'.' As the former director of the Rennes academy, Yannick Menu has equally fond memories of 'Dembouz' the burgeoning footballer and Dembele the burgeoning person. 'Ousmane is someone who's very cheerful and very smiley,' he says. 'Sometimes our relationship was a bit stormy, because when you're in contact with a young person every day, that can happen. But he loved football and he loved training and he always gave everything on the pitch.' Advertisement Dembele made rapid progress in the Rennes youth ranks and was capped by France at both under-17 and under-18 level. But he was frustrated by what he felt was a lack of consideration from the club. Amid interest from Red Bull Salzburg, he downed tools in the summer of 2015, sitting out a two-week training camp in Germany, before eventually putting pen to paper on a three-year professional contract. After making his debut off the bench in a 2-0 win at Angers in October 2015, the 18-year-old became a fixture in the starting XI and finished his maiden campaign with an excellent return of 12 goals and five assists from 26 Ligue 1 games. 'He was very collective-minded,' says former Rennes head coach Philippe Montanier. 'He was a dribbler, but he always dribbled with intention. 'And he had personality as well. I remember the derby against Lorient (a 2-2 draw in January 2016). We went 2-0 down in the first half, but he was the one who was urging his team-mates to react.' Dembele's remarkable two-footedness left observers agog. A hat-trick of right-foot strikes in a 4-1 win over Nantes was followed by a notorious post-match interview in which even he seemed not to know which was his stronger foot. The unintentionally comical effect of that interview created an impression of a young player whose head was tethered to his shoulders with less than customary tightness. But those who know him insist that behind the impression of absent-mindedness lies a keen intelligence. 'Sometimes he'll seem a bit in his own world, then the next second he'll seem very switched on,' says a source close to Dembele, speaking anonymously to protect relationships. 'He's passionate about historical documentaries, for example. So in a conversation, you might think he's a bit lost, but then he'll suddenly start talking to you about the Bolsheviks. 'It's like when he's on the pitch — he's constantly throwing people off-balance.' Before his first season in senior football had reached its conclusion, Dembele had been announced as a Dortmund player, joining the club from the Ruhr valley on a five-year contract for a fee of €15million. Diatta, who played at centre-back, signed for Dortmund's reserves and the pair embarked on a German adventure together, first living in a hotel and then moving into a house in the city centre. Advertisement 'We had a pretty simple life there,' Diatta recalls. 'It was our first experience overseas, so we were discovering life abroad. We were lucky to find French players there like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who really took Ousmane under his wing.' The kind of football career that Dembele had pictured for himself in those kickabouts in La Madeleine was suddenly upon him: a gigantic stadium, packed to the rafters with 80,000 wildly cheering fans; glamorous Champions League ties against Real Madrid, Sporting CP, Benfica and Monaco; taut domestic tussles with Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig. Initially taken aback by the intensity of Dortmund's training sessions, Dembele soon got up to speed and credited head coach Thomas Tuchel with giving him the liberty to play his natural game. 'When I have the ball, it's total freedom,' he told L'Equipe. 'It's something that I need. I'm allowed to move into the middle, put myself in the number 10 position, change wings. It's gratifying to feel this confidence in me, as if I was 25.' Forming a devilish three-pronged attack alongside Aubameyang and Marco Reus, Dembele enjoyed a brilliant first season, playing a starring role in Dortmund's conquest of the DFB-Pokal and being named the Bundesliga's Rookie of the Season (one year on from having won the equivalent award in France). But the youngster's impatience came to the fore once more the following summer when he went on strike again, leaving a bad taste at Dortmund that lingers to this day. This time it was to force through a move to the club of his dreams. Before joining Barcelona, Dembele had never sustained a serious injury. Within two weeks of being unveiled at a sun-soaked Camp Nou in August 2017, he ruptured the tendon in the femoral bicep of his left thigh, which sidelined him for nearly four months. It created an unfortunate template for what was to follow. Advertisement In Dembele's early years at Barca, his body continually betrayed him. Further problems with his left hamstring came in January 2018 and March 2019. A muscle tear in his right thigh in May 2019. A muscle tear in his left thigh the following August. A complete right hamstring tear in February 2020. A knee tendon issue in June 2021 that forced him out of Euro 2020. By the time he left Barcelona in the summer of 2023, after six seasons at the club, he had missed no fewer than 119 matches due to injury. It did not help that, even when he was fit, he did not always seem entirely present, with repeated instances of lateness driving the club's decision-makers to distraction. Dembele was living with Diatta and his uncle in a luxurious house in Barcelona's upmarket Pedralbes neighbourhood and the fear within the club was that he was spending too much time playing video games and not enough time focused on football. 'In his early days, he didn't have the professional mindset of a Barca player,' says a source who worked with Dembele during his time at the club. 'His eating habits were horrible. He also had a phase when he'd show up very late for training. He was fined for that multiple times. Sometimes he'd fall asleep at home and that was it. He even missed medical appointments.' Diatta puts Dembele's teething problems at Barca down to inexperience. 'When you buy a player at such a young age and there are lots of expectations around him, you should be able to forgive him a few little mistakes,' he says. Eventually, the penny dropped. Encouraged by his agent, Moussa Sissoko, Dembele took on a full-time personal chef, Anthony Audebaud, in the summer of 2019. Out went the Coca-Cola and the ready meals, in came the sea bream, the sea bass, the spring chicken and the vegetables. A year later he started working with a personal fitness coach, former elite sprinter Salah Ghaidi, and physiotherapist Jean-Baptiste Duault, who was taken on after impressing Dembele's entourage with his analysis of the player's injury problems in an interview with L'Equipe. Advertisement The feeling in Dembele's camp was that Barcelona's focus on patient, possession-dependent football meant that their training sessions were not sufficiently dynamic for him from a physical perspective. Backed by his new personal support staff, Dembele took physical preparation and injury prevention into his own hands, constructing a daily fitness schedule designed to strengthen and protect the muscles that had previously been his undoing. With his injury problems finally behind him, Dembele's last three seasons at Barcelona were much happier as he became a key figure under first Ronald Koeman and then Xavi. Although his attacking statistics remained largely underwhelming, he bowed out as a Barca player with three La Liga titles and two Copa del Rey wins to his name. 'He eventually became a sort of veteran in the dressing room and his team-mates understood him better in his last years,' says the Barcelona source. 'Dembele ended up being loved for how he was.' The turnaround in Dembele's Barca fortunes also permitted him to resurrect his international career. He played only a peripheral role in France's triumph at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, having lost his place after their opening game, and then went 860 days without playing for Les Bleus between November 2018 and March 2021. But although injury curtailed his involvement at Euro 2020, he was a first-choice pick on the right flank at both the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024. Close to Kylian Mbappe, Dembele is popular in the France squad due to his irrepressible bonhomie and has long retained national coach Didier Deschamps' backing, in spite of his many injury problems, thanks to his unique ability to unlock matches. 'Some players understand things very quickly and are already mature at the age of 19 or 20, like Kylian,' says Ludovic Batelli, who coached both Dembele and Mbappe at under-19 level with France. 'I think Ousmane needed a bit more time to understand that work, rigour and discipline would make him even more effective and successful. But as they say — better late than never.' Having agreed to meet a €50million (£42.9m, $54.9m) release clause in Dembele's Barcelona contract, the PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi sold his club's project to the forward by vowing that he would be the homegrown figurehead of a young, hungry team with a strong French identity. Paris had been a 70-minute train ride from Evreux during Dembele's childhood and he had happy memories of going to watch games with his friends at the Parc des Princes. Advertisement It helped, too, that Dembele already knew PSG's newly appointed coach. While coach of Barcelona, Luis Enrique had enquired about the winger's availability following his breakthrough at Rennes, only for Dembele to inform him that he had already given his word to Dortmund. Seven years on, their paths finally converged. 'Luis Enrique was fiercely protective of him, right from day one,' says a source close to the PSG coach. 'He was confident that he had something magical in his hands and that under him, Dembele was going to flourish.' After claiming a league and Coupe de France double alongside Mbappe in his maiden PSG season, Dembele was one of the players expected to step up to the plate when his long-time friend left the French capital for Real Madrid last summer. Things did not get off to the best start when he was dropped on disciplinary grounds for PSG's 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in the Champions League in October. Dembele had questioned Luis Enrique's possession-heavy tactics during a team briefing and subsequently reported late for a training session, although a source close to him suggests that he was primarily axed for the trip to the Emirates Stadium in order to send a message to the rest of the squad. Yet only two months later, Luis Enrique happened upon a tactical innovation that would reinvigorate PSG's season — and transform Dembele's career. The decision to deploy Dembele as a false nine for a 3-1 home win over Lyon in mid-December proved the spark for a stupendous run of goal-scoring form in which the France international racked up 27 goals in only 22 appearances. Amassed in the space of only three and a half months, it represented twice as many goals as he had ever previously mustered over the course of an entire season. Dembele, who has scored 33 goals in all competitions, attributes his improved fortunes to the fact that his central role means he has to expend less effort in order to get into shooting positions, enabling him to take aim at goal with fresher legs. Sources close to him additionally point to the hours of work he has spent on his finishing in training over the last 12 months, as well as input from a personal video analyst. Advertisement As the deliberately elusive focal point of a deliberately loose-limbed starting XI, the super-fit Dembele also plays a pivotal role in PSG's build-up play and their formidable pressing game. Having turned 28 earlier this month, Dembele is one of the senior figures in the PSG squad. Although grand speeches have never been his style ('a connector rather than a leader' is how one source describes him), he fulfils an important function in the club's youthful, multilingual changing room. 'He speaks several languages, which facilitates links with his team-mates,' says a source close to the PSG squad. 'He's also someone who's very jovial, who likes taking the mick, and that helps to create a good atmosphere and bind the squad together.' Dembele's performances have also benefited from the fact that, away from the pitch, he has moved into a more settled phase in his life. He married Moroccan influencer Rima Edbouche in December 2021 and they had a baby daughter in September 2022. A practicing Muslim, PSG's No 10 is scrupulously discrete about his private life and describes himself as 'casanier', meaning 'a homebody'. Though fatherhood and the demands of elite-level football have inevitably reduced the amount of free time on his hands, he remains a committed Football Manager player and watches as much live football as he can. 'I watch practically every championship,' he confided to Le Parisien last year. Few would have bet on him emerging from the current campaign with a stronger claim to the Ballon d'Or than Mbappe. But according to those who know him, until he has the Champions League trophy in his hands, thoughts of individual glory can wait. 'For him, the most important thing is to win the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain, because it would be something historic,' says best friend Diatta. Advertisement 'And it'd be deserved, when you look at his journey. He's been through tough times, people have spoken ill of him, about the injuries and things like that, but he's never complained. He's just kept working.' One more assured first touch, one more thumping finish, and a little boy's dreams will all come true. Additional reporting: Pol Ballus (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Franc Fife / Getty, Aurelien Meunier/ Getty Images, Franco Arland/ Getty)
