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In soccer, quick rises to stardom can be common but sometimes, without proper support, they can lead to shortened careers for players. You won’t find a more famous example of that in American soccer than former teenage sensation Freddy Adu. Signed by D.C. United at 14, Adu became the youngest athlete to ever sign a professional contract in 2004, but his career turned into a story of what could’ve been after stints with 15 different teams over the years. While Adu hasn’t officially retired, he’s now helping coach other kids to help them avoid some of the mistakes that he made when he was younger.
On Morning Footy (which you can catch every weekday morning from 7-9a.m. on CBS Sports Golazo Network), Adu had a candid conversation with Charlie Davies about how not taking care of his body when he was younger caused injury issues when he was older.
“Let’s keep it 100. I was able to get into places where a teenager wasn’t supposed to be getting into. I had a lot of friends who were older because I played up when I was younger and we were able to go to College Park, Maryland and we’ll get into all the bars and whatnot.
“Just little stuff like that, right? And so I was enjoying all that stuff rather than focusing on… let’s say the little things like getting the rest that you need, your diet, getting some stretching in and just taking care of your body.”
Adu ended up missing a lot of time for teams with back issues over the years. He spoke of how, these are things that you can get away when you’re younger but when those bad habits remain as an older athlete, that’s when they catch up to you. Once he started having those issues, they didn’t go away remaining for his career and it’s something that he’d do differently if he had the chance.
“Sometimes, you have all the talent in the world and it’s not enough. You’ve got to work your butt off to maximize that talent and guys who aren’t as…
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