世界花式足球四連冠之路

譯文僅供參考，中文在上，對照英文在下。

我夢想成爲一名職業橄欖球運動員，但是16歲時受的傷讓我的夢想破碎了。醫生告訴我，我能再次走路就很幸運了，更不用說從事運動了。

I had dreams of becoming a professional rugby player but they were shattered by an injury when I was 16. The doctors said I’d be lucky to walk again, never mind play sport.

那是7年前的事，現在回頭看看，這其實是件好事，因爲它迫使我開始關注非身體接觸類的運動。受傷一年多後，離我18歲生日還有1個月的時候，我成了英國花式足球冠軍（右圖爲本文口述者安德魯•亨德森在展示他的花式足球技巧）。當時我還在學習高中A-level課程。

That was seven years ago and, looking back now, it was actually a good thing because it forced me to focus on a non-contact sport. Just over a year later, a month before my 18th birthday and in the middle of my A-levels, I became the UK freestyle football champion.

花式足球糅合了足球控球技巧、雜技表演和舞蹈動作，並且富於自我表現。開始時，我還以爲花式足球不可能成爲一項正經的職業，部分原因在於我自認爲練得不夠好。我記得當時我在網上學習荷蘭花式足球先驅Soufiane Touzani的視頻——我試着找出那條繩子，我不敢相信這些動作是真的。

Freestyle football combines the technical side of ball control with acrobatics, dance moves and self-expression. At the beginning I didn’t even think freestyling could be a serious career, partly because I thought I wasn’t good enough. I remember studying online videos of Dutch pioneer Soufiane Touzani — I was trying to see the string. I couldn’t believe it was real.

5年來，這項運動如雨後春筍般迅速流行開來，我與萊昂內爾•梅西(Lionel Messi)和內馬爾(Neymar)一起拍過廣告，與大衛•貝克漢姆(David Beckham)一起出席活動。我還在倫敦奧運會和里約足球世界盃上表演過花式足球。

The sport’s popularity has mushroomed over the past five years and I’ve shot adverts with Lionel Messi and Neymar and done events with David Beckham. I also performed at the London Olympics and last year’s World Cup in Rio.

我對運動的熱愛，是受到我的父親羅伯特(Robert)的感染。他是英國大學柔道冠軍，是個運動狂人。我在康沃爾(Cornwall)西部長大，孩提時他帶我走遍了全國各地。我練過乒乓球、足球和橄欖球，後來把全副精力放在了橄欖球上。我是一名動作敏捷的爭球前衛，到我受傷時，我已經踢了差不多十年的橄欖球。

It was my dad, Robert, who infected me with an obsessive enthusiasm for sports. He was British Universities judo champion and sport mad. When I was a child growing up in west Cornwall, he ferried me all around the country as I played table tennis, football and rugby — the sport I eventually concentrated my efforts on. I was a nippy scrum-half and when my injury happened I’d been playing the game for about a decade.

我是在一次盃賽中受傷的，當時我情緒激昂。我沿着邊線疾跑，之後突然折身向內衝，左腳卻陷在浸水的場地上。

It was during a cup match and I was so fired up. I hared down the line and jinked inside, planting my left foot on the waterlogged pitch.

我感覺腿扭了一下，隨後被阻擋球員牢牢壓住。我的腿骨折了，腳踝脫臼了，脛骨和腓骨斷了，所以當我的骨頭啪啪作響時——聲音很大——連續響了5次。大家看到我的腿垂着、腳扭向反方向時，都噁心壞了，在球場上乾嘔起來。

I felt my leg twist before being nailed by tacklers. It was a fracture break, so when it snapped — and it was loud — it dislocated my ankle and broke my tibia and fibula, five times through the bone. People were so grossed-out at the sight of my leg hanging, and my foot facing the wrong way, they were sick on the pitch.

受傷時我沒有哭，做了好幾個手術，幾周後醫生們認爲我康復前景不理想，我失聲痛哭起來。運動一直是我生活中的重心。那是改變我一生的時刻，也是我人生中的低谷。

I didn’t cry when it happened but weeks later, after various operations and when the medics had voiced their woeful prognosis, I wept uncontrollably. Sport had always been central to my life. It was a life-altering moment, and the lowest I’ve ever been.

但是那次受傷讓我長大了，我也隨之改變了目標。在復健過程中，我練習了一些花式足球的動作——學着控制球的平衡，儘管我還打着石膏。這有助於我康復，讓我有事可做。不過理療師可不建議這麼做！

But the injury made me grow up and reconfigure my goals. Throughout my recovery I was doing a few freestyle football moves — learning to balance the ball, even in my cast. It helped me with rehab. It gave me something to work on. The physios certainly weren’t recommending it, though!

在那段黑暗的日子裏，身體和精神上的痛苦激勵着我盡力做到最好。我到現在已經連續四次奪得世界冠軍。還不壞，畢竟我的腿裏有一塊大鋼板和9枚鋼釘。我的肩膀裏另有一塊大鋼板和9枚鋼釘——拜我剛開始練習時一次技巧失誤所賜。在停車場的大梁上掉下後，我的胳膊和肩膀摔斷了。但我沒有因這次受傷而畏縮不前；在腿斷之後我知道不會有比那更疼的了。我希望自己的態度能激勵那些經歷了類似挫折的孩子們。

It’s the physical and mental pain I felt in those dark days that motivates me to be the best I can be. I’m now the reigning world champion, having won four times on the trot. Not bad considering I have a large metal plate and nine screws in my leg. I’ve got another large metal plate and nine more screws in my shoulder — the last lot arriving thanks to a trick that went wrong when I was starting out. I broke my arm and shoulder after falling from a girder in a car park. I didn’t let it deter me, though; after breaking my leg I knew the pain couldn’t be worse. I hope my attitude will prove inspirational to kids who suffer similar setbacks.

我每天訓練10個小時，堅持精心制定的營養計劃，以使體內脂肪比例維持在5%左右。我還會做幾個小時的瑜伽和其他一些柔韌性訓練，我的腿比以前任何時候都強壯。但是我也需要不斷髮明新技巧以保持領先。諷刺的是，這正是我的初戀橄欖球能派上用場的地方。我對花式規則進行了略微調整，用橢圓形的橄欖球取代足球，並且在比賽中進行表演，試着向新觀衆介紹花式表演。但願我今年能在橄欖球世界盃(Rugby World Cup)上，在特威克納姆(Twickenham)橄欖球場內表演。

I train for 10 hours a day and adhere to a careful nutrition plan that means I have about 5 per cent body fat. I do hours of yoga and other flexibility exercises, and my leg has never felt stronger. But I also need to keep inventing new skills to stay ahead of the pack. Ironically, this is where rugby, my first love, is helping. I’ve been fine-tuning a freestyle set that uses an oval rugby ball as opposed to a football and I’ve performed it at matches, trying to introduce freestyle to a new audience. Hopefully I’ll be performing inside Twickenham rugby stadium later this year during the Rugby World Cup.