There's an energy in people coming together and singing.

Reggae was always playing at home in East Ham when I was growing up. Loud music would be coming from the bedroom, and downstairs all you'd hear was the bass. My uncles had sound systems and we used to go to Jamaica a lot as a family.

As a boy, I was known for reciting whole songs after one listen. I've always had a good memory for lyrics. It's weird because I don't have a good memory for other things. I remember lyrics easier than the shopping list.

You fight for your character in the script. It's part of our job to evolve them, show all sides of them.

I know, when I'm walking out on the court before for the game, it's like, man, if you wanna compete, here it is. It's coming. That's something I really enjoy.

I have a Ph.D. in philosophy and sports science. At 14, I went through this really tough Soviet training system. A lot of my roommates got psychologically broken or physically injured. Either you came through, or you were out. I made my Ph.D. work in the field of young athletes aged 14-19 because at this age any human is changing.

Being an 18 year-old football player, there are temptations. There are girls. There's going out to parties. There's doing this; there's doing that. There is drinking and blah, blah, blah. But at the end of the day it all comes down to maturity and what you have to do as a man to reach that next level. You have to be disciplined and make sacrifices.

There's more to life than football, right?