SOCCER IS A GREAT SPORT by Aristide Dagbove Hardcover – March 24, 2026

“Soccer taught me something life never explained: you don’t wait for the ball—you prepare for it.”A boy grows up in Cameroon without running water, carrying containers half a mile each morning because there is none at home. He plays soccer barefoot on dirt fields until the ground rips his toenails off—and goes back the next day barefoot. His mother leaves for America when he is thirteen and does not return for eight years, during which time she is secretly battling breast cancer alone so he will not worry. His father is present in the house and absent in every way that costs a child something.The boy takes the GED six times. He arrives in California chasing a professional soccer dream that ends on a phone call when they find out he is twenty-four, not eighteen. He collects quarters for pizza. He eats pretzels for dinner. He receives an email for a job he doesn’t remember applying for, drops out of college, and becomes a flight attendant.On one flight, he diverts the plane, stops on the runway, and saves a passenger’s life. The man wakes up angry about the diversion. Dagbove says nothing. He files his report, flies out the next morning, and goes back to work.This is not a story about talent. It is a story about preparation. And it has never been more necessary. Read more