How a Star is Born

The academy’s work with Adu has been closely watched around the sports world ever since he signed a six-year contract, estimated at $500,000 a year, with Major League Soccer in November that made him the youngest player in the league. As professional athletes continue to gain publicity at a younger age, there is a growing recognition of the need to prepare them for the pitfalls of life in the public spotlight and avoid early burnout.

Moawad has met with Adu 85 times since the youngster left home in Washington two years ago; they spend at least one hour together each week discussing Adu’s mental approach, work ethic and goals, and reviewing tapes of his games and practices.

Adu’s training sessions are videotaped by Moawad, focusing the camera on him and panning in and out to provide a view of his attitude and body language from the perspective a coach would see it. He also gives Adu mental exercises; some are similar to reading comprehension tests, while others involve him locating numbers scrambled at random on a piece of paper and then connecting them in numerical order while being timed. Often, the exercises are repeated several times, and Adu’s reaction time is measured.

Moawad — whose work is reinforced by athletes like Michael Johnson, the first person to win the 200-and 400-meter Olympic titles — also makes highlight tapes and DVDs for Adu, set to his favourite songs from rappers 50 Cent and Eminem, that showcase positive results.

So far, at least, Adu welcomes the help. ‘‘It’s almost like going to school,’’ Adu said. ‘‘But it helps out a lot. It just sets you straight; it just gets you right there, like in that game-mode really. It’s like you’re ready to play as soon as the time comes.’’

The IMG model is drawn from tennis teacher Nick Bollettieri, who has cultivated Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova. Psychologist Steven Ungerleider studied Bollettieri’s work with a young Sampras in which he used a camera fixed on certain body parts to reveal how the player reacted to a bad shot or blown point. Bollettieri could point out a particular muscle that remained tightened, indicating the youngster had not really gotten over the mistake, then revealed how much more poorly Sampras played when in that condition.

‘‘I think it really is a terrific approach,’’ Ungerleider said. ‘‘I was down there four or five years ago and I went through some of the same exercises myself (while playing tennis) and it was very educational.’’

Adu is convinced in the effectiveness of his training. When he arrived at the academy, he was often consumed by what others thought of him, caught up in the heckling of opponents who chided him by questioning his age. He has worked with Moawad to get beyond that. ‘‘That whole age thing with people saying I was older than I am used to really bother me,’’ Adu said. ‘‘When I came here (Moawad) really helped me through all that stuff and said don’t worry about it, they’re just jealous.’’

Moawad said he has no concerns over Adu’s ability to handle his venture into MLS mentally or physically. ‘‘He might make some mistakes like any teen-age kid would, but I know he’s not going to make any catastrophic mistakes, because he is a special, special kid,’’ Moawad said. ‘‘I’m really going to miss him. He’s got a piece of my heart.’’

(LA Times-Washington Post)