The Pains and Achievement of Mane Sadio
THE PAINS AND ACHIEVEMENT OF MANE SADIO
According to Robert Kiyosaki, Dreams are not easy to achieve, they come with their pains, they force you to work, and demand a strong commitment. They also challenge and motivate you to become a better person. That is how Sadio Mane dream’s brought him to limelight from the streets of Bambali to the pitch of Anfield: the iconic home of Liverpool football club. Sadio Mane is one of the most renowned strikers in the world, he is the fifth best player in the world, he is well known for pace, strength, dribble and goalscoring skills. His trophy cabinets boast of the UEFA Champions League (2018/2019), English Premier League (2019/2020), UEFA Super Cup (2019), FIFA Club World Cup (2019), Austrian football Bundesliga (2013 – 2014) Austrian Cup (2013 – 2014). He has achieved so much with the latest, being the African footballer of the year (2019). Sadio Mane is worth $20 million according to celebrity net worth, Sadio Mane transfermarkt profile has him worth 120 million euros. He has played for five teams across Africa and Europe, which are Académie Génération Foot (A Senegalese academy in Dakar), Metz (France), Red Bull Salzburg (Austria), Southampton (England), and currently at Liverpool (England).
EARLY LIFE OF SADIO MANE
Sadio mane was born on 10 April 1992, in Sedhiou, Senegal, he grew in a small village in southern Senegal called Bambali, to a poor parent with many children, who couldn’t afford his basic needs such as education, so he was send to live with his uncle. Due to not going to school, he took to playing football, both in the morning and evening on the dusty streets of his village. In 2002 after watching his country play in the world cup, beating France and even reach the quarter finals, this motivated him to seek the path of professional football which led him to a trial in Dakar, were he joined Académie Génération Foot after impressing the coach with just a match during the trial.
MANE SADIO’S PAIN
Every successful person has a painful story. Every painful story has a successful ending. Accept the pain and get ready for success. The Sadio Mane story wasn’t different from most African players who started their football career in Africa moving to the top is a difficult task, he had his own fate of pain which I will mention here.
- Having to leave his family to go to Dakar, even to Europe was tough for him as an individual but it was one of the requirements for a better future.
“I missed my family so much, missed being with my mum and my sisters. But to be a footballer is all I wanted and I knew these tough days were to help me achieve that.”
- Living a life of abject poverty: he wasn’t able to purchased a good sport jersey and boot, even for an important trial game which can change his career.
“He asked me, ‘with those boots? Look at them. How can you play in them?’. They were bad, really bad – torn and old. Then he said, ‘and with those shorts? You don’t even have proper football shorts”
- Family refusal for him to play football.
“Everyone would tell me I was the best in the city, but my family wasn’t a footballing one. They are big on religion and wanted different things for me.
- Disappointments: this is one pain face by mane, every human being will be disappointed when he misses an opportunity to fulfilled a dream due to a third-party benefit, so was mane when his opportunity to playing for Borussia Dortmund was cut short due to lack of agreement between Dortmund and Red Bull Salzburg.
“Things didn’t work out back then and it was frustrating, but that’s life – nothing just comes easy,” Mane reflects
LESSONS TO LEARN FROM MANE SADIO
- Know your dreams in life, it’s what gives you a plan for life.
“Since I was two or three years old, I remember always being with the ball. I would see kids playing on the street, and would join them.
- No situation can stop you in life, not money, resources, having a good jersey, good boot, and even being despised by the coach won’t deter you from trying, when you have the zeal to make it.
“He asked me ‘are you here for the test?’ I said I was. He asked me, ‘with those boots? Look at them. How can you play in them?’. They were bad, really bad – torn and old. Then he said, ‘and with those shorts? You don’t even have proper football shorts?’
- Don’t look down on yourself because the people around you have look down on you.
“I told him what I came with was the best I had, and I only wanted to play – to show myself.”
- Be ready to take every opportunity life offers you as the last you will get: take it up and shock the world around you, Mane mesmerized the scout coach with the one opportunity he was given.
“When I got on the pitch, you could see the surprise on his face.
“He came to me and said ‘I’m picking you straight away. You’ll play in my team.’ After those trials, I went to the academy.”
- Never give up on your dreams even when it looks difficult at first, mane experience disapproval from his parent to play football, but he holds on.
“Everyone would tell me I was the best in the city, but my family wasn’t a footballing one. They are big on religion and wanted different things for me.
“In the beginning, they didn’t accept it, but the more they saw how much I wanted it and that there was nothing else for me, they helped me.”
Dreams they say, come to pass, but determination coupled with hard work and dedication can make your dream come to fulfillment, Gail Devers said “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” Don’t just dreams make it a reality, giving up shouldn’t be an option because that is where dreams die.
