Time for a soccer down. It's an odd man rush. I just realized it's an odd man rush. It's a two v one. This time we get to catch up with the Kuma and Shahagamaud who are now at Al Shabab in the U fifteen's.
Uh.
First off, guys, I'm glad that we were able to track you down because I know that we're dealing with stuff here in the worldwide sense of things. Where are you right now as we're talking right now, we're.
In Atlanta, Georgia, hometown?
Back home? That was my biggest question. It's like, I didn't know how international a conversation this was.
But you're back home just for spring break.
We head back to Riot in about three days.
Wow. Okay, So I'm not going to mess around.
I'm not gonna waste any more of your time because I want you guys to enjoy your time back here.
So I want to I want to ask Uh Kuma.
Let me start with you, what practed you to this idea of having shot to build his game by going to Saudi Arabia?
How did this all come about?
So we were actually recruited to go to Saudi Arabia as a you know, as part of my career or my job. But when we realized that the Saudi's takes SoC are really really importantly, we we started looking for a team for for Shat to join, and he did a lot of groundwork and I let him tell that story, but it's it's a great place for for young talented players to to get a foothold into the game.
All right, So since your since your dad opened that door shot, let me ask, uh, they come knocking on the door or the the interest is there from the family about going? What was your initial thought this?
Sorry, I was just soker because I at the time all I knew was Ronaldo. I had just gone.
I didn't know anything about really the academy system, professional system, if they even had like club academies for our age. It was just how am I going to play? And
how did that work? And I started looking and online they don't have much information and it required me to do a lot of asking around with my friends when I actually got there, asking questions, talking to people, and eventually it got me to an academy team and we played a scrimmage against the actual Al Shabab club and I played well, and yeah, it got invited.
To a tryout, So how did that go?
When you're playing the actual ol Shabab team, It's like, Okay, they're like really tall and really, how did that?
How was that?
Well?
Yeah, I think the game we played was you eighteen or you nineteen? So I was by far the youngest player in the game. I got subbed in at halftime.
They weren't they weren't huge, but they were definitely stronger and faster than me. So I had to be really smart with my decisions. I had to I had to kind of rely more on my technical aspect of the game and kind of game intelligence to performed.
But yeah, it was It was fun. It's a good experience, all right.
So Kumba, let me ask you, what's it like to see this happening where you You know about the Saudi Premier League, you know about how seriously they want to take things and they want to have your son and your family be a part of that growth. What's it been like for the family to sit there and say, yeah, man, he's over.
In Saudi Arabia learning how to play the sport.
It's been super exciting. My wife and I have been on soccer fields all over Georgia since are kids, most of them from about the age of three, so from PHV City at glennam Hauck and just watching them grow to the point where he's good enough to play at this level kind of makes all those wet, cold, rainy days worth it.
What have you let me? Let me ask you this chat, what have you learned about yourself? Because it's not every day that someone who is a young man gets the opportunity to expand who they are, who they want to be, what they want to pursue. As you get older, I'm not gonna say grow up, but I'll say grow older. But you know, what have you learned about yourself in this process? Because I would imagine figuring out how to be somewhat independent as part of that.
Well, for physically, for my game, I've learned I'm a lot quicker and faster than I think I always When I was younger, I was a little small and not the most dominant kid on the field, and it required me to rely a lot of my technical skills. But coming here, I've learned I I have a more aspects of my game. I'm a little bit faster and quicker and stronger than I thought, and that actually ended up to me changing my position.
Now I play striker.
Before I play more of a left wing position, and now because of my strength and size, I'm learning to play striker as well. And then kind of off the field, I'm just learning to be more independent because a lot of our games you have to travel, we fly, and also my.
Perents aren't there for a lot of them.
And yeah, I'm just just learning how to be an independent person.
Kuma, How different is scheme now as a as a young man, considering everything that you're seeing him learn in an atypical environment. How different a young man is he?
So I always have stories, but I got to tell this one. So the first game, he goes to school, and then he goes to a practice. From that point on, they just get them into one of these big luxury buses and then they get shuttled to a hotel. And I'm trying to explain it to my wife that the fifteen year old is going to get on this bus with a lot of you know, people who he can't communicate with because he doesn't speak Arabic, and they're going to take him to a hotel and he's going to
spend the night there. We're not going to see him the next day until the game. And she's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's let's follow the van. So we drive. We drive behind the you know, the sports the team bus for about an hour hour ten. We get to the hotel and she says, go in and check. So I go in. I'm standing there, really weird. I see the team manager and he's like, you know, he's looking and be weird, and you know, he waves and I wave back, and I come back and I give the report to my wife.
He's okay. And that was the first game now he's been to i'd say probably ten cities in Saudi by himself. They fly as a team the night before and I just realized, he's just becoming more independent. It's forcing him to mature a lot faster. And it's been it's been
good in general. That's off the field. On the field, his game has evolved while he was While he was i'd say playing here here in Georgia, there weren't there weren't that many aspects of the game that he had to he had to work on, because you know, he had gone such great training and good understanding of the game from his coaches here, but having to interpret everything from hand gestures and and just things getting yelled out
has made him a bit more patient, more insightful. So, but yeah's a lot of a lot of maturity in a short time.
Chateau. How different is it?
I mean, your dad mentions driving an hour and ten minutes, so that's basically like from Alpha Rered to Midtown during rush hour, and so now doing that with the family over in Saudi Arabia? How different is it from a a game day perspective of preparation perspective.
Uh?
You know, how how odd a situation.
Is this, at least initially for you because you were used to things here growing up, now you're over there. How different is over there in the Middle East versus here in Georgia.
Yeah, it was really different.
I remember growing up, like before our games, me and my family, we'd always have pizza on Friday night. So we do that with my family every night on Fridays before my game.
We'd do that and then I.
Kind of wake up, we'd watch the Premier League mornings on the TV and then kind of just head out to my game an hour maybe two hours before we'd warm up and we'd start the game here.
It's huge shock.
I mean I think the night before, maybe two or three hours after I get out of school, I head to the club and then we, like you said, we take the team bus to the hotel and then we have dinner together. We sleep together in the hotel as well, and then we wake up. We do a little bit of team preparation, we do a team meeting, then after that we head to the field and then we do our actual warm up and then we play the game.
And it was just the first few games. It was rough because I was used to my routine back here and it took some getting used to me.
Yeah, that was really the difference.
Meeting catching up with the Gamadi's because one of them is playing over in Saudier, and we figured we grab on to him before he has to go back and actually play with al shababsu fifteens, son and father hanging out with us here for an odd man rush.
On a two v one here on the SDH network.
So you know, Kuma, you mentioned how it is with you and the boss making sure that everything is okay on on a daily basis. How difficult is it for you when you're over there knowing he has a job to do and knowing that he has some learning to do. How difficult is it to be a parent and want to understand that he's safe and that he's okay, but at the same time lay back a little bit and understand, okay, he has to learn this kind of stuff to grow.
How difficult a clutch in a gas situation is that for the family watching him grow?
Yeah, letting go has been pretty difficult for us because we move as a as a group, all of us. We go to each other's games, like Door that does horse riding, so we all go and watch that. And just because it's such a professional environment, there is no place to you know, you don't even watch practices, you don't go to any of the trainings. It's it's an actual stadium where you know, you need a special permission to enter the training facilities. So it's been, it's been.
It's been difficult, say to let go, because I mean I see him as, you know, a young teenager. His mom sees him as a still a two year old. So at fifteen, just to you know, pull back that much and just watch the games. It's both refreshing but still a bit difficult.
So you know, Slie, let me ask when it comes to where you think your game is. Obviously there are stages of growth, stages of development. How different a player are you from when you first went over to now? Where has your game changed? I'm not going to ask about what else you need to work on, because I mean, it's a it's a growth curve, and that that curve is going to be there for a while. But how different a player and a person are you in just
that little time coming over? Being somewhat sequestered, You're you're having to focus on football pretty much every chance you get. How different are you?
It's an excellent question.
I've been talking to my dad about this a lot because, like I said before, back here i played, I played left wing and I really really came to love it.
I enjoyed it.
And now I'm playing striker and it requires a lot more patience. You know, you get much much less touches on the ball, and it's it's difficult for me because I'm not typically a patient person, and my dad's been telling me I need to watch on Sierry Henri play. He touched the ball so little, but he was very
effective in his job. And yeah, right now, I'm just working on that kind of making the right runs, timing my runs, and just learning how to play like a true proper nine opposed to netling, which is what I'm used to.
If my math is right.
The next matchup is going coming up against Alula, I think, yeah in the morning on the ninth, So literally it's like a couple of days left and you've got to fly over. You've got to get ready for the next match up against Alula in the U fifteenth. It's amazing what Google will do when you're sitting there and you're trying to research in a hurry.
It's like, when's this next match? You're trying to figure out what's going on?
How How often Kuma does the family go over as a group? Is it just you and his mom?
You know?
How how much interaction are you allowing yourselves? Is it back and forth? Are you also are you all there with him this entire time? What's the layout?
So to the games? So training, we don't go for the games generally. If I am available, I will go with my wife. There have been a couple of games where we've all been, but that's just been one or two games. It's just me, me and me and my wife at the games.
Yeah, so do you you know sha te Do you look up? Do you look for them? Or do you just like it's like, do you know you come out of the tunnel. Do you try to find them and then focus and lock back in or is it kind of a continuous experience where it's like, Okay, I'm out, I see them. At one time, I know they're there. I'm out, I'm doing my work. I look back.
I still I see that they're there.
They've gone to the concession stand and got things that I like that I can have.
I mean, what's it? Are you looking for them? Are you? Are you seeing them? And how much of a comfort level is that when you do see them?
Yeah?
Yeah, my mom and dad can tell you. I'm always looking.
Even during I remember one walk out, I saw them come in and I couldn't help leaving. I know you're supposed to be serious and professional, but I had to leave. So what happens is when we enter the stadium, at first I check, and during our warm up I'm looking, and then usually right before kickoff happens, you're there. If not, maybe five ten minutes into the game. I'm there, and it's honestly just a sense of me knowing you have people there to support.
Me good deals.
So now that they're there, now that you're there to support and we talked about letting go and learning and all these kinds of things you mentioned Tierry on Rikuma about you know, hey, watch tape of this guy. What's it like to see him be different and now be a striker And where are you kind of steering his youtubeian habits and video habits to continue to have him grow.
So there's only so much I can do because I was a soccer player too, and I was a striker, but not a very good one. So I let the professionals he's not amazing coaches, I let them do a lot of the showing and then I try to, you know, give him a few tips from you know, the really really great players and see what he can pick up
from from there. I gave him the example because when all ready went to Barcelona, he just made so many runs and was just available whether to drag players away, which took a lot of Pati from being the main man in the EPL to kind of playing a support role almost at Barcelona, which was, Uh, you know something I think all young players can can can learn from.
And at the same time, you also learned that you were supposed to listen to your coaches because Pep Guardiola will be more than happy to bench Tierran Raef. He's not paying attention to the collective when it comes to all of the information. Uh what let me so then let me let me ask you both this and Chautal.
I'll start with you. What advice would you give someone of your.
Age who might be thinking about doing something in a far flung land. It's not like going, It's like I'm not, you know, moving over to Oak Mountain and Birmingham to go and be at.
Oak Mountain High School.
But if there were opportunities overseas in other countries, what would you tell folks that are your age, with men and women, boys and girls about these kinds of opportunities? What would you tell them about either if they're calling where to go, what to expect? What would you what would you tell folks for your age about this kind of experience.
So I'd say first to just embrace it and take it for what it is. Obviously it's a little it's a little nerve racking at first, but you have to really see it for what it is. It's an opportunity to learn and go your game, and I think that's really important for young people's experience. I think also additionally, what you have to do is you have to be brave and kind of confident. You have to understand your abilities, and if you don't believe in yourself, nobody else will.
And I think that's really important, and that that kind of helped me to kind of earn my spot and to be able to perform how I perform right now. And then last year, I think you should expect for me personally, the people are very welcoming and kind, and that's that's something you have to kind of hope for. And I think it also really helped me this. I would be people are very welcoming and very kind to me on my arrival.
All right, So Kima, what about the adults and converse like this? What would you tell them and what would you what advice would you give or what would you sit there and say, Okay, expect ABC D and E. If an opportunity like this, whether it's Saudi Arabi or elsewhere, comes call him.
I'd say take the opportunity jump all in. You will not regret it? And will I'll add a story to it? And can I tell the story? I always have to ask his permission because it involves one of his new friends. Just just the impact of move like this has on individuals, the people they meet and the friends. There was a day I was going out with our youngest and schat said, can I come to the park with you guys? And I said, sure, come on, come along, and we get
there and he goes, Dad, can I go to Chris's house? Later? I go who's Chris? He says Chris Junior? I said, who's Chris Junior? He says Ronald Son. And I looked at him. I said, you do not know Ronaldo's son. Five minutes in and I'm walking away from him, a young man comes into the park saying calling Shata Shata, and I'm like, okay, you're kidding, right, So I call his mom over. I called his mom on the phone and I say, do you know anything about this? And
she goes, yeah, he talks about him sometimes. Anyways, they play a little game, A crowd starts to build on the outside, and as they're leaving, Chris says shatte don't forget about tomorrow, and I go, so it was to So I call him mom again and I go, Okay, we've got to figure out what's going on here. I ask him how does he know him? He gives me the regular teenage thing, a one or two word answer. And the reason for this story is, I mean, these are friends that you're gonna make in just keep for
a lifetime. But what are the chances that chat you know, meets Chris Junior and actually has a relationship of friendship with him. I volunteered to take him over the next day so I can see Ronaldo. I will confirm I did not see Ronaldo. I tried a few times waiting outside the house, but it was, I mean it was.
It's just amazing the relationships, the friendships, and and and the experiences that they would have just leaving, you know, like in our in our case, Phtree City, our little bubble has just been great for him soccer wise and just development wise as a young man.
Well, gentlemen, it's great to catch you back here on this side of the Atlantic, inside the state of Georgia as you are balancing spring break and playing in the U fifteen's in the Saudi League up at El Sha Bob. It's great to catch up with you both, Kum and shot Kamada.
Guys. Just be safe, have fun, enjoy the experience.
Don't be strangers and knock on our door anytime and let us know what's going on. And I found out how to watch the matches. I don't know if it's a subscription service or not. Found out how to watch them so early in the morning's going up against the Premier League. There's some stuff going on at ninety five am. We can watch it going on with Al Shabab.
Guys.
Thanks for dropping by for a two v one and thanks for the education. Just be safe, have fun. We'll catch up with you soon.
Hey you John, what's a pleasure