You may have heard of Wrexham AFC due to the popular TV series Welcome to Wrexham. Have you heard of Arsenal F.C., an even more storied outfit? How about their teenage sensation, Max Dowman?
Arsenal F.C. is a historic England-based football club (soccer). They have won 13 top-flight league titles, and this year, they are creeping closer to a fourth English Premier League title. However, that quest almost suffered a setback in their recent match against Everton. With a minute or so left of regular time, the disappointing score line (from an Arsenal perspective) was 0-0.
Max Dowman (photo courtesy Football London)
Cometh full-time, cometh Max Dowman. The young whippersnapper supplied a teasing cross that begged teammate Viktor Gyökeres to tap home easily – he did. Arsenal 1- Everton 0. The home supporters are in raptures; the stadium shakes.
There were still a few minutes of tense injury time to endure, but sixteen-year-old Dowman was probably the coolest cucumber in the cauldron. For him, it might as well have been a casual Sunday afternoon at the park. When the ball broke to him deep in Arsenal’s half, he skillfully skipped past a couple of Everton defenders, then, as fans sheepishly bit fingernails, he glided gracefully forward before nonchalantly stroking the ball into Everton’s goal.
Arsenal 2 – Everton 0.
Final whistle blows — cue wild celebrations as their campaign for EPL preeminence marches on inexorably. Move over Vaughan, Milner, and Rooney – Dowman is the youngest goal scorer in EPL history. I’m in awe.
How can a sixteen-year-old be so talented and composed? It must be a God-given gift, for that kind of skill and temperament cannot be coached. Even for those who despise Arsenal (fans tend to be tribal-like sometimes), there can be grudging recognition, if not pure joy, in witnessing such a precocious progeny apply his trade. Arsenal fans themselves will long remember “the day they were there” to witness Dowman’s triumphal entry.
This is incomprehensible to me: Dowman joined Arsenal’s pre-academy at age four. I literally didn’t know the difference between my elbow and earhole at that age. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta invited the prodigy to join first-team training at age 14. I’m not even sure I had enjoyed my first lovely kiss at that age.
Then, to outshine his illustrious playing elders at age sixteen in such a pivotal game is bonkers. Doesn’t he know he’s supposed to be nervous? Maybe he’s so young that his prefrontal cortex (crucial for self-awareness, among other things) is not fully developed. He just does it, rather than overthinking it. That’s a key mindset in sports.
Max Dowman is not yet a man, but youth will be served.
