When did you start freestyling? How did you become interested in football freestyle?
I
started to juggle from a very early age with footballs, and other small types of balls. At first I couldn't do many
juggles, maybe 3 or 4. I kept on practising on my juggling until I was very comfortable with it and could do about 200
juggles easily (at the age of 13 maybe). Along the way I found a video of Maradona juggling during a warm-up with his
team Napoli and it inspired me to try some football tricks. I was never serious with freestyle, or even knew that it
was called freestyle until I saw videos from the Nike Showdown and Soufiane Touzani's deel 3. I became serious with
freestyle since January 2005 where I released my first video and since then I've been practising more and more to become an
even better freestyler.
How much do you practice?
It depends on what you call "practice". I always have
a football with me and I always play around with it doing a few tricks here and there, but as for serious practice, it's always
different. Sometimes I practice every day of the week, sometimes I don't practice for a few weeks. It depends
on my mood. And when I actually go out to practice it will probably last about one hour or maybe more depending on the
conditions outside and how I am feeling.
Why do you freestyle? What is your favourite thing about freestyle?
I freestyle
because I love football. Anything to do with the beautiful game, I love, and street football and freestyle football
were perfect alternatives to practising football. What I mean is that I can't always be playing football since I can't
always have my gear on, I can't always be out on the field, and I can't always be with a team or a group of people to practice
with. Street football and freestyle football offered me a chance to always be playing even if I didn't have anybody
to play with, and even if I didn't have any gear on me. All I needed was a ball, and my imagination.
My favourite thing about freestyle is that there are so many possibilities. You're only limited by
the extent of your imagination. Football freestyle allows you to express yourself and have fun playing around, while
improving your football skills as well! It's also a great little practice on the side for football, although you should
NEVER make it the main focus of your training for real football.
Who is your biggest inspiration?
In terms of actual football, my biggest inspiration
is Roberto Baggio. "His career was built not on titles, but on moments", and he has had some GREAT moments in his career.
His smooth and graceful style is what I always hope to emulate when I step out onto the pitch.
In terms of football freestyle, my biggest inspiration is Mr. Woo. He was one of the first football
freestylers and laid the foundations for many young freestylers to come in the future. Even after all these years, although
styles have changed and moves have changed (even ones Mr. Woo can't do!), he still has the best control over the football
and gives the best live shows.
