On 26 November , Julian Draxler received an unexpected message on his phone. One year later, his former youth coach Marc Dommer was getting in touch. The coach even sent a video to Draxler as evidence. It showed a boy with spindly legs, socks pulled up over his knees, doing keepy-uppies with a tennis ball. Right foot, right knee, head, left knee, left foot, back to the right….
Dommer, who has been working in youth football across Germany for over 25 years with Schalke , Cologne and now as the head of the academy at Werder Bremen , had practised that skill with countless talented youngsters. Draxler held the record with six rounds of foot, knee and head. Dommer had barely told the year-old about the record when he did it seven times. Nine years later, the now grown-up boy is leaning over a photo of that tennis ball exercise that I brought him.
He smiles. Seven rounds with the tennis ball. People watch football because of players like Wirtz. With an audacious dribble or a single pass, he can break up a defence that seemed impenetrable a moment ago. And what spectator hasn't been caught making uncontrolled noises as a result?
Sounds of astonishment and disbelief. Fear of missing out. Wirtz was wearing a bright purple, loose-fitting tracksuit when we met for a chat in a box at the BayArena. The colour gives him a casual, youthful look. Talking to him inevitably brings to mind the contrast he is currently experiencing. On the one hand, he is simply a nice boy with pleasant manners who is taking his first steps into independent life.
And at the same time, he is already a master of his trade on the football pitch. And how does Wirtz live in this media hype? The team plays in the lowest of all amateur leagues, Kreisliga C. How did Wirtz become what he is? For decades, scientists have been trying to understand why individuals are so much better at something than the rest of us, be they exceptional athletes, composers, inventors or self-made entrepreneurs. What is behind success?
