He was seven the first time
the field chose him.
The school bag would drop somewhere between the door and the lane, his kit on before his mother could even finish her sentence. This wasn't ambition — it was something older and quieter than that. A pull that had no name.
That boy grew up understanding sport the way some people understand language — not learned, but felt. In the instinct of a first touch. In the hunger of a child who has never been coached but already understands the game.