RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Seydou Traore has been waiting four hours for the phone call that will change his life. When it comes, he is the picture of calm. Next to him, his mum Zaia is anything but.
Traore and his family are sitting backstage at the NFL Draft, where the 23-year-old Briton - who did not see his loved ones for five years after moving to the US to try to become an NFL player - has just been told his dream is coming true.
Zaia, who is French-Algerian, lets out a 'zaghrouta' - a celebratory trilling sound that is traditional in north Africa - sheds tears of joy and has an out-of-body experience in a reaction that goes viral.
"I was in a trance," she tells BBC Sport. "I was like 'oh my God, it's happening, he's done it'. That's what I kept telling myself. It was pride and relief because it's been years, and it was all worth it."
Of all the social media content around Seydou's achievement in being the first graduate of England's NFL Academy to complete his pathway to the NFL, it is the clip of his mum he keeps watching.
He knows that she knows exactly what it has taken to defy the odds and become an NFL trailblazer.
A pep talk from the great Travis Kelce was just a tiny part.
Born and raised in south London, Traore was naturally athletic and tried many sports. He was playing football as a goalkeeper when he found American football at 16 with London Warriors.
In 2019 he earned a place in the first intake at the NFL Academy, a development programme initially based in north London and now in Loughborough. The academy recruits from many sport backgrounds and American football experience is not necessary.
Almost all draft prospects come through the American college system, which is why the academy was designed to help international players earn scholarships and prepare them for the NFL, mentally and physically.
Each year about one million teenagers play American football at high school in the US. About 0.08% of them reach the NFL.
One can therefore imagine how the odds are stacked against an international player like Traore.
But he applied himself to his dream, getting up at 5am and working all day every day to get better, either at the academy or training.
And the following summer, he had a breakthrough.
Traore's mum was in the kitchen when he came in and told her: "Some Americans want to speak with you. I've been talking to them for a while and, basically, I'm going to America."
Unknown to Zaia, her son had secured a spot at Florida high school Clearwater Academy. She told him: "I can't afford to come and see you, you'll be there by yourself."
For Traore's sister Zeinab, four years his senior, the thought of him moving 4,500 miles from home was even more difficult.
"He's like my first child so I'm protective," she says. "I was concerned at first. I thought it was too big a jump because he was still young."
Zeinab need not have worried.
Traore had been laying the foundations for this move for some time, making videos to showcase his skills.
One of them found its way to Clearwater head coach Jesse Chinchar.
"Wow, who's that?" Chinchar wondered as he watched a 6ft 3in guy leaping in the air to make a one-handed catch.
Little did he know that he was watching a Londoner who was yet to play a full-sided game of American football. But Clearwater had a track record of recruiting international players and helping them earn college scholarships.
"I did a bit more digging but there was no game film, just clips of him doing athletic stuff," says Chinchar.
"We got talking to Seydou and it felt like he was going to compete and wanted it for all the right reasons. You could tell how much it meant to him.
"It was kind of a wild adventure because he was one of the most raw, unknown commodities we had brought in, but we thought 'if this kid comes over and it works out, this could change his life'."
He was correct.
From day one Chinchar thought "we got something".
Traore learned his first playbook in a matter of days, which is like learning a new language. And playing as a wide receiver, he was immediately dominant against kids who had played the game their whole life.
He thinks his goalkeeping skills helped.
"Hand-eye coordination, tracking and locating balls, leaping down low or up high, and attacking the ball at corner kicks, that translates very well," Traore says.
"That's how American football is when they throw the ball up to you, you attack it at its highest point."
Chinchar agrees, adding: "I've felt that my guys who had a background in soccer have that understanding of spatial awareness, which I think in [American] football is an under-rated trait."
Chinchar was also impressed by Traore's character and self-belief. Even when he received his first college offer, he bet on himself getting a better one. That eventually came from Arkansas State.
Their head coach Butch Jones was working late when his tight ends coach came into his office and said: "I keep hearing about this player. I think he's special, there's something different about him."
They watched videos of Traore and Jones soon made a "hefty comparison". He called Seydou a clone of Travis Kelce, whom he coached at Cincinnati and helped convert into one of the best tight ends in NFL history.
"Seydou's size and stature coupled with his athleticism - the way he ran, the way he caught the ball – it made him a rare commodity," says Jones. "He had unlimited potential."
Traore had barely played at tight end and had already committed to another college. Jones therefore had to 'flip' him - so he called on his old friend.
He set up a group video call in which Kelce gave Seydou some advice and convinced him to trust coach Jones and...
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