A Quote by Toni Kukoc
I've been playing 10 years and I know it's easier starting the game. You have the opportunity to play much more aggressively.
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The natural thing in Africa is to start playing soccer at 8 or 9. You go outside and you play like kids play basketball here, and you grow a feel for the game. In Africa, the kids start playing basketball at 16 or 17 or 18, and when they get an opportunity to come here, they have been playing for only one or two years.
When you play Futures and Challengers for three, four years, you're playing in obscurity. You play the game for other reasons. You don't play the game for money or attention. You play the game because you like to play. You play the game because you enjoy the journey.
I've been lucky, man. I've been very lucky for 10 years, made a lot of money playing a game, a kids' game.
Our job is to find players younger, where they are able to play from 11 years old and grow up playing the game. Rather than, you start playing when you are 17 or 18 and you don't get the opportunity to do anything with your career.
Playing rock-solid like Djokovic, I can't get the most of my game, while I can't play very aggressively like Federer. So I have a goal to try to play in between them.
I'm sure there have been guys who didn't realize they had a concussion and just kept playing. It's a violent game. The head injuries are the most dangerous to play with. We're trained to play no matter what. If you can run, and you're able to focus and know your responsibilities, you're usually out there playing. You wouldn't have enough players if no one played hurt. Especially if you're, like, on special teams, you're going to do everything you can to stay in the game.
When you have the ball above the net height on grass, it's easier to play, and when the ball comes at you more slowly, it's easier to play. But when a guy hits hard and deep, I think you have to have been out there playing to understand, but it's hard to really hit the ball.
The old thought process is that you have to respect the game - right? - and act like you've been there before. But I think you can also show how much you respect the game, how much you appreciate the opportunity to play the game and how excited you are to help your team by having fun.
I think when you're starting you have more of a luxury. You know you're going to play 33, 35, 37 minutes per game, so you can kind of feel the game out. When you come off the bench you have to be more in attack mode. You have to make something happen immediately.
The indoor game is much more of a team game, having to work effectively with a group of 15 to 20 people, striving to improve every day, every drill, even every contact. The beach game is much more of an individual game within a team sport, much less about organized practices with coaches and much more about just playing the game.
There's not a Sunday that goes past that I'm not excited to play this game. I feel as if I'm a lucky individual to have the opportunity to play this game, and when I do have the opportunity to finally play, you can bet your last dollar I will be excited to play.
It's like kids playing house: 'You play the father, I'll play the mother.' You know, you dress up, you play, they pay, you go home. It's a game - acting's a game.
I'm much more collaborative than I probably was when I was first starting, much more willing to say, "I don't know the answer to that." I have really talented people and let them do their jobs and not try to control everything as much as I did when I was starting. I was a bit more insecure.
Instead of playing the game "Making Life Wonderful", we often play the game called "Who's Right". Do you know that game? It's a game where everybody loses.
I know it is difficult to play in a big club like Manchester United as a No. 10 because you know how many goals you have to score to play there. So I thought I had to add something to my game. I had to give more options to the manager.
I now have 10 years' more experience from when I broke into the game. I can deal with disappointments easier, and all of that helps to make me a better player. It's the same in any walk of life, in any job.
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