The Next Ronaldinho

Ronaldinho, originally uploaded by nextsoccerstar.com.

11 year olds are very lucky people and they don’t realise it. At 11 you are young enough to not care about anything other than playing football and old enough to have half a clue what the wonderful sport of football is all about. If you are a half decent player you now have the internet to make sure that whenever you talk the talk, you can walk the walk.

My innate ability at the age of 11 to dribble like Chris Waddle is lost in my mind, there’s no way I can upload that particular video to impress you with. If I also told you that even more than that my passing was better than Glenn Hoddle’s ever was, you’d simply not believe me unless I could prove it.

That is just isn’t going to happen. 1984 wasn’t a great year for capturing dribbling on your Nokia. It actually hurts to think that FC Barcelona missed out on signing me up when I was in my prime. If only the internet had existed back then, I could have saved them the Maradona cash.

The internet?

About a year ago in an empty urban sprawl car park a player of such unbelievable skills tormented his mates to breaking point for the worst twenty minutes of their lives. He was called Sylvain, an Algerian immigrant with an unnerving Zidane stare and shimmy. For 7 years old he was sensational, what would he be like at 11?

I was keen to find out where he was heading, Manchester or Madrid.

His father was supping away on cans on the bonnet of a car at the other end more interested in flirting with the Puerta Rican lovelies swaying to the salsa blasting from their car. Sylvain, he reckoned, would never become a football star. Scouts were too scared to come to their barrio and besides, he was going to go into the family business, whatever that was.

The Peruvian’s who knew this mini ZZ were more interested in his future. They wanted me to show as many people his skills because they were sure he was good enough to make it. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, then this wonder-kid would have become just another ‘super-kid’ bigged up by his crew.

Everyone knows a Sylvain. A player who at a young age seems to have what it takes. Some make it, others don’t. The others tends to be the largest group, but what is ‘making it?’. I’d have been happy at 11 to have had my cousin’s believe that I was genuinely better than Waddle and Hoddle, to have showed off my ability with a football.

This is the inspiration behind nextsoccerstar.com On the Metro on the way home I made it my mission to create a stage for players who want to show the world their talents on their terms. I wanted to create a dedicated website that offered the next Lionel Messi the opportunity to create his own page, upload video’s and show the footballing world just how damn good they were.

Empowering players is extremely exciting. Up until now it’s been a one way street with players dreaming of their big break. Now they can take it into their own hands. The young player who was signed up by Manchester United on the power of a DVD video sent by his family is proof that it is possible to get noticed by a video the player creates.

The site is online and taking its first steps, waiting for the next stars to show just what they can do. 11 year old me is incredibly jealous, if only I had been that lucky…