Occasionally, there are advantages to staying at home in front of your computer. Such as when a former Ballon d'Or recipient joins your youth soccer team on a videoconference call.
With the coronavirus bringing a pause to normal training, Brazilian World Cup winner and former Orlando City SC star Kaka hopped on a Zoom call with his former national team partner Kleberson and members of the Philadelphia Union academy's U-12 squad to offer some sage advice and answer questions. Among those precious nuggets? That even if soccer feels like the most important thing in the world, it's important to live a well-rounded life.
"It’s really important to train," Kaka said. "It’s really important to rest. It’s really important to eat well. It’s really important to study. It’s really important to, for your age right now, to balance."
Of course, that's not necessarily an easy concept for middle schoolers to master on their own. But it's OK to ask for help, Kaka said.
"You have a coach who can help you with that. You have parents who can help you with that," he said. "So it’s really important to get used to the situation because when you get older, when you’re an adult, you have to balance yourself."
Kaka and Kleberson, who is now a coach in Philly's academy, both debuted for the Brazil first team in 2002 and were part of that great soccer nation's World Cup triumph that year.
Watch the full video for more insights from Kaka, including the best player he every played with, why he chose finish his career at Orlando City, and where he keeps his Ballon d'Or.
