Last season saw Abdou Samake announce himself to the wider public as an exceptional defender, but the 25-year-old centre-back won’t find himself fighting off complacency this coming season. Samake is a continual and thoughtful learner who’s mindset has been forged through each step of his soccer journey.

The journey begins

After moving to Canada at a young age, Samake really wanted to get out on the ice and play hockey. While his parents disagreed with that idea, he did get to try out speed skating. Samake’s time indoors didn’t last long however as he soon fell in love with soccer and quickly rose through the ranks.

“When I came to Canada, I really wanted to play hockey but my parents were not having that. I did some speed skating before I started soccer, I was probably nine or 10, it was just for fun. I was always a competitive kid though, I loved sports. So when I started playing soccer it was like, ‘this is what I want to invest my time in’. But I had a great time speed skating, that’s for sure.”

“I started playing soccer at school with my friends when I was around 11. That was my beginning. Then later that same year I started to play organized soccer and I did every echelon from house league up. I moved up team after team until I got the chance to go play for Montreal. Then I got to play at university and now I’m here. So everything has been so gradual for me.”

Samake knew early on that soccer would be his driving passion and that he could attempt to make a career out of his exceptional talent.

“To be honest with you, as soon as I started playing I was like, ‘okay, I, this is what I want to do, and I’m gonna do my best to become a professional’. Once I started playing I was pretty serious about it.”

Learning in Montreal and Michigan

The now 25-year-old defender got his first taste of the professional atmosphere when he joined the Montreal Impact (now CF Montreal) Academy.

“Being in the Montreal system was really great. It forced me to grow up very fast because my family lived in Ottawa and I had to move by myself to Montreal, live with some guys that played on the team, and really roll up my sleeves and take care of my life. I think that was really great for me because, just like Michigan, and like in the professional game, it’s an environment where you have to fight for your spot every day. I moved away from home at a relatively young age and learned about what I want in my life, not only in the game, but everything surrounding it. I was also finishing my high school online, so I had to take care of all of that by myself, my mom wasn’t gonna come around. So that was another big learning experience to become independent and take care of myself and the things I want.”

Samake’s soccer education, as well as his literal education, continued when he moved south to the University of Michigan.

“I definitely learned a lot from my time there. I went to Michigan, a very prestigious school for academics and athletics. So it was really there that I started to understand what it takes to win and the importance of winning because their winning culture was the best. With that came a lot of expectations, and I think that was really, really good for me to get a chance to learn about winning from that culture of winning. I think that translated really well and was an important step for me to move on to the professional world afterwards because, obviously, in this professional world winning is vital. So it was a great learning point for me over there.”

Aside from the valuable lessons he learned on the pitch, Samake also took the time to finish his degree, a Bachelor of Science in Information.

“For my family, for myself, I always wanted to get my degree. I always wanted to have that as something I can rely on. Just to be surrounded in a university setting with all different ideas, all different people and to learn about the world around me, that was so critical for my development as an individual.”

When he finished his degree, along with his university soccer career, Samake wasn’t sure what would lay ahead for him but knew he wanted to move on to the professional level if he could. Eventually the opportunity to move to the Island – ‘a perfect fit’ in his words – came about.

“I really wanted to (keep playing soccer). As soon as I came to Michigan I was accelerating, doing everything in the spring and summer to get all my classes done and graduate a semester early and hopefully get drafted. I was thinking ‘okay, maybe I can go back to Montreal or maybe I get another chance somewhere’. I wanted to get my degree first and then try to get an opportunity somewhere. I knew it was gonna be tough to make that jump back again but I was just hoping for an opportunity.”

“I didn’t get the chance to go into the MLS Draft or to be drafted or anything like that. But it turns out, for me, it’s beautiful the way things happened, because then I got in touch with (Pa-Modou Kah) and that was just a perfect fit for me.”

“I realized I don’t know — ”

After stops in Montreal and Michigan, Samake felt ready to move on to the professional level but his mindset would stay the same: there is always more to learn. The move to the Island was a big step in the young defender’s career but one he felt comfortable with.

“As soon as I came in and I saw the other players that had been around the game, in the professional environment and been in the system, I realized I don’t know (bleep). I didn’t even lie to myself. I knew I was starting from the ground up and I’m just going to soak in as much as I can, ask as many questions as I can, reflect on the game and what it takes. That’s my approach to the game even now. There’s so much to learn, there’s so much to take in and to learn from people who have been in this game a long time, the experience and how they play the game is so different from somebody who has little experience. I still see myself as someone with little experience, and I’m hungry to keep bettering myself. I’m keen to look and to learn. That’s it. That’s my approach for everything.”

“I think that’s the beautiful thing about this game and probably anything that you dive deep into: the more you learn about it, the more you see how much you still have to learn. That’s kind of like my biggest drive, you know, for me that the game is about trying to master it and always learning. That’s what I enjoy.”

Black coaches at every stop on the journey

The influence former PFC head coach Pa-Modou Kah and current captain Jamar Dixon have had on Samake showed last season as the centre-back experienced a breakout campaign and became a crucial part of the club’s defense.

“As soon as I came here, (Kah and Dixon) have just been my mentors. It’s not even like leaders or friends, these people are really mentors, really close people in my life. I can’t begin to explain how they’ve been there for me through each and every step.”

“The first day I came into the locker room, Pa was showing me where I was gonna be sitting. And I’m like, ‘oh, nice. I’m beside Jamar’. He said ‘yeah, you think it’s a coincidence?’. He was basically telling me that this guy with so much knowledge, so much experience, is going to be a good mentor for me. And they both have done that without fault. It’s been incredible to succeed with them and to see them lead us the way they did.”

Samake counts himself lucky to have been taught by Black coaches at every stop of his soccer career.

“Maybe my situation is very special because my coach at University was also Black. He was a centre-back as well. So maybe I was also looking for that subconsciously when I was looking at schools. But I was really fortunate with that.”

“Overall, in my experience there has been great representation in the clubs that I have been with. Montreal as well had a great coach there, Wilfried Nancy, who’s the first team coach now. He was always around my team when I was there.”

“Representation is just so important and I had the real privilege, throughout my career, to have had that.”

Even though he has been surrounded by Black coaches in his life, Samake still sees there is room for improvement in regard to the amount of Black coaches in soccer. He also remains optimistic on the emergence of more Black coaches in the future.

“I’m very optimistic about these things. We’re seeing these things as they’re changing. So yes, there’s still changes that need to happen but the way I see it, it’s a beautiful process right now where we’re talking about it more and more, and the people that have the opportunity, they’re representing and they’re excelling. That’s positively reinforcing the cycle. So I’m optimistic about these things.”

Black History Month

“The best way to learn about these things is, if you see people in your neighborhood or people that look different from you, learn from these people, talk to the people around you directly. I think a lot of times we talk a lot about these things, but the changes happen through conversation. I meet somebody and maybe they have not had a lot of people of colour in their lives, but through conversation they can have their mind changed, they can have a new perspective and it broadens their worldview.”

“So for me, it’s a local thing, it’s engaging with the people around you and learning from these people, and not seeing the black community as an idea. Going into the reality of it, talking to the people around and seeing what they’re like and understanding through that rather than ideas, because there’s so much noise. It’s easy for people to get lost in all of that, but when you go to somebody close to you and you see how they are, how they live, that’s real learning in my opinion, and also, when you really understand the history, you get a glimpse of why people are the way they are, the hardships that have come through.”

“So like the other guys have said, for me issues of discrimination are never something to do in a month but maybe we use a month to say, ‘okay, maybe this month I’ll be a bit more mindful and I’ll try to learn about a bit of history. And if I see people around me, I should talk to them’. That’s the real way that we change our minds.”