The Making Of Rio

It has been a while, but I am back with a story that probably has a lot more to tell but I think its best I start this one early. It is about a boy whose mother made a promise that she will not see this son play soccer as it is too heart-breaking to see him suffer for something he loves; little did she know.

This kid was born two months premature and was about the size of a half a loaf of bread. I actually will never forget the day he was born; I was about 13 years old and I was still in grade 7. My mother was having a bad day during her pregnancy and was rushed to hospital, it was identified that the baby on board was battling to breath so he wanted OUT. That evening I was blessed with a new brother, not knowing what impact I would have on his life and neither his on mine but all I was happy about was the fact that I had another toy to mess around with by the name of Blake Petersen.

My mother vowed that she will never allow him to touch a soccer field because she had watched both Brylon and myself sacrifice everything and just keep getting heartbreak after heartbreak so she couldn’t do it anymore. Blake would do anything besides play soccer so he was basically put in a shell and he just starting swelling up. This boy was chubby hence the nickname Wange, I loved his cheeks I couldn’t help myself but play with them constantly and with this we realised how serious my mom was. This kid was never to touch a soccer field in his life.

As a kid becomes a teenager, you usually want to lose weight because society makes you believe that been FAT is bad right? So, on his move to Johannesburg, he began a new life and a new Blake was born. This kid shot up probably taller than me and all the baby fat has gone. Now he was ready to take on the world and make his own choices. Brylon was busy with Varsity Cup and Blake witnessed him achieve everything he did and also witnessed him sign his first professional contract. Now, imagine a life where you have two brothers whose main focus in their life is just SOCCER? What else would you do? These are the guys you look up to, you going to want to make them proud and there is only one way you can do it by doing exactly what they love. PLAYING SOCCER!!!!

I got my coaching job at Wits Juniors Football Club and all Blake wanted to do was play for me but I made a decision that it would be best if he stays at his current club and he could join me the following year. A decision I regret till today but it was all part of his process to get him to where he is. The year 2018, he came over to Wits Juniors to join me but his season was cut short because he was in and out of hospital. I got to work with him abit during that year and my word was there a lot he still needed to learn. He was a CB but the basics were letting him down, he was battling to trap a ball, battling to pass, his positioning was out and he was lacking that football intelligence but the PASSION was there. He made it known in his actions this is what he wanted, he didn’t want anything else but to be a footballer and he didn’t want to do it anywhere else but under me. I gave him extra sessions to do when he could to work on those basics and all he ever did was try to get it right, he didn’t work on it as often as I would have liked him too but when he could he would. He ended the 2018 season, maybe playing maximum 8 games for me.

The 2019 season had come and Blake was ready to show that he is ready to take on the challenge. He was turning 16 and about to enter the under 17 league. He was under me once again but if I can be honest, I was nervous for him. I kept thinking this boy not ready for this but I couldn’t show it to him, I was just hard on him in training and demanded more from him at every single occasion. I remember we were driving home from training and I said to him “Blake, everyone’s eyes are on you because you are my brother. People will say you are only in my team because we are family, we need to prove them wrong! Which means you need to work harder than anyone else in the team and I cannot just play you, you need to earn your position!” Should have had this conversation with my mother as well because she was on my back. We had too many fights about Blake been on the bench for games on end and she had every right to because I was trying to protect him and shield him from all the negativity that was out there but in the same space I was also waiting for the right moment when I felt he was ready because the wrong moment would mess him up. That moment came, it is something I would never forget because it was the worse defeat of my coaching career. We were playing at home against Shumba Academy and just before the game Blake and I had a small fight but I made the decision to continue with him in the starting line up not realising this would come back and bite me later. In the first 15 minutes we conceded 3 goals from errors that he had made, I couldn’t watch him suffer anymore and made the decision to take him off. It was a moment I will never forget, a moment that I believe was the turning point for him because as soon he stepped off that field, he cried his eyes out and said “Brice I am sorry!” He was prone to a lot of errors before that game and that was the reason, I kept him on the side-lines to avoid this situation but I promise you this was the last time he had made errors and I had a solid centre back.

This boy left everything on the field but the issue was he reminded me of myself, he just couldn’t control his emotion so now I had to learn how to deal with myself. He had to control his emotions in order to be the player he wants to be, I remember when he was on the bench with me during a game and we would concede a goal he would get angry and just start crying because what the HELL, how can we be conceding right? So, can you imagine what he was like on the field? He would get the job done but there was still a lot that we needed to work on and I was still hard on him, he needed to give me more. I was expecting more from him, one mistake was too much. Blake become a regular in the team not because he was my brother but because he earned every bit of playing time and every single player in the team acknowledged him for it. They started calling him Rio Ferdinand, what an honour for your teammates to give you such a nickname of a player that has retired and most of the players have never watched him but here they are calling my brother a player that I looked up to growing up.

The season ended off well and Blake made amazing progress but now it time for the big challenge, Galaticos Football Club was about to enter a major tournament in Soweto and how could I leave Blake out right. I had identified players during the year that would fit into my team and selected the players from my team that I felt deserved to be in the team. It was December and the tournament had begun, again I was nervous for him and I battled in my head every night before a game: “Should I play Blake?” These thoughts would run wild in my head: “Is he ready for this challenge?” It wasn’t fun at all but I went against emotion and I played him alongside a player from Bidvest Wits. They weren’t seeing eye to eye and I knew this would be a problem so I sat Blake down and I told him that he needs to learn from this boy, he needs to create a relationship with him because if you want to be in his position you need to be better than him. After that I had a solid back line, they had their holes but they carried the team exactly how I expected them too. We went all the way to the finals but as a coach you cannot enjoy the moment as a brother because the same way a player is in the moment emotionally you do the same as coach. It was after the final where, I realised that this kid that was never supposed to play soccer was doing amazing things.

After the finals I was pulled to interviews all over the place and at every interview, I was told what an amazing player my number 4 was and I should keep up the amazing work. Yes, number 4 was Blake and they didn’t know he was my brother until I told them. They were saying that he reminded them of Virgil Van Dyk from Liverpool and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing because a year ago as a coach I would have written this kid off but here he is in Soweto, the heart of football in South Africa and he is making waves to a point where fans love him. I missed it all because I was his coach and not his brother but I got the opportunity to be a supporter while he played.

15 February 2020, I have been away for work so I was missing the team’s pre-season but I just got back from been away for 2 weeks and our team was about to play a friendly against Highlands Park FC. I went to watch so I can see what do we need to work on before the league starts, not as a coach but basically just to analysis each player. I got to watch him with all emotions pushed aside and I saw myself but such a better version. I witnessed some one comfortable on the ball, solid in tackles, someone with football intelligence and picking out passes that are between the lines that you could even call “defence splitting passes”. I was amazed, this once FAT kid is doing such a good job in the football he is currently playing.

You got to watch him to understand what I am saying otherwise this is all just hot nonsense.

To Blake, if you are reading this son. Keep working hard, you have made amazing progress thus far but there is still a lot we need to work on. Remember you can only be as good as you want to be, hard work, dedication, the right attitude and passion will get you were you need to be. Remember to stay humble and always believe in yourself because no one else will believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself. You are not only an inspiration to me but to a lot of kids out there, keep doing what you are doing because the world is your playing field.

Coach B