Biography & Autobiography Sports
The Beautiful Dream
A Memoir
- Publisher
- Penguin Group Canada
- Initial publish date
- Aug 2024
- Category
- Sports, Personal Memoirs, Soccer
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780735247352
- Publish Date
- Aug 2024
- List Price
- $36.00
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
“A captivating read from one of our country’s greatest athletes.”
―Christine Sinclair, former captain of the Canadian Women's National Soccer Team and National Bestselling Author of Playing the Long Game
Out of the Toronto suburb of Brampton comes an irresistible story of trials, perseverance, the limelight of international soccer, and—above all—heart.
Despite debuting on Canada’s senior national soccer team 20 years ago, scarce is known of Atiba Hutchinson. We’ve watched him win Canadian Men’s Player of the Year six times; celebrated his club team championships; and mourned his injuries. We’ve lamented the state of Canadian soccer and cursed the lost potential—and years. Yet, we know little about Atiba’s personal life, or how he rose from suburban Brampton to becoming Canada’s most-capped national men’s team player, often described as the country’s greatest athlete you haven’t heard about.
For the first time, Atiba is ready to share the extraordinary story of his ascent to the heights of professional soccer, nationally and internationally, and what he believes makes a true champion. The Beautiful Dream is an intimate account of Atiba’s awe-inspiring career, from his humble beginnings to playing across Europe; the crushing disappointment of failing national team competitions in the 2010s that nearly led to his resignation from the national program; all the way to his triumphant arrival in Qatar to face off against 31 other nations at the world’s most pre-eminent soccer competition. He has strived to better not only his own game but the landscape of Canadian soccer for over two decades, culminating in Canada’s first trip to the FIFA World Cup since 1986. Yet, as the reflective midfielder shows, this isn’t just his story: The Beautiful Dream is the story of countless Canadians, who strive and scrape for a seemingly unreachable dream—until their fingertips finally graze the surface. It’s a lesson about the unyielding belief required when taking the long road to success. Atiba's journey mirrors the progression of Canadian soccer, and the story of Canada itself: goals that may begin as outsized but as we work towards them, our world changes with us.
Atiba’s journey of hope, belief, and resilience connects the country’s modest soccer past to a bold, exciting future in the game. It’s a story that transcends the pitch, exploring what it means to be a kid who dares to dream of achieving the impossible, and the man who perseveres to get there.
About the authors
Atiba Hutchinson's profile page
DAN ROBSON is a senior writer at Sportsnet. His writing has also appeared in the Canadian Press, on CBC and in the Toronto Star. He is the author of the bestseller Quinn: The Life of a Hockey Legend and co-author of the bestsellers The Crazy Game: How I Survived in the Crease and Beyond with Clint Malarchuk and Change Up: How to Make the Great Game of Baseball Even Better with Buck Martinez.
TWITTER: @robsondan
www.danrobsonstories.com
Excerpt: The Beautiful Dream: A Memoir (by (author) Atiba Hutchinson; with Dan Robson)
A few steps away from the end of the tunnel, I closed my eyes and wondered whether I’d wake up. It was a scene I’d imagined so many times before that it was almost familiar, like something I’d rehearsed thousands of times. And yet it was entirely unfamiliar. The nerves hit two days earlier and were reaching a level I’d never experienced in two decades as a professional footballer.
A couple months shy of my fortieth birthday, I was a grandfather in a young man’s game. I’d played the game a decade longer than most. It was now the last season of my football life. Soon I would walk into the wide-open space that exists on the other side of any pro athlete’s career. Since I was a boy, soccer had been my identity. It was always who I was—the singular pursuit that gave me passion and purpose. But now I was nearing middle age, still playing the game I first fell in love with as a boy. I had a family—my wife, three young sons, and a baby girl on the way. I had everything I’d wanted, everything I could need in life. On the pitch, I’d achieved everything I was capable of and knew that I’d done everything possible in my career to make that happen.
Everything but this.
And now I stood a few steps away.
Just beyond the tunnel beneath the stands at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Qatar was a green pitch, bright lights, more than forty thousand fans, and television cameras that would send us around the globe.
Behind me stood a team who represented the most talented collectionof Canadian male soccer players the country had ever produced—a team with youth, raw ability, and passion. They represented a newgeneration of men’s football in Canada, one that had earned a level of respect the national team had never before received.
For years, this very scene had seemed impossible. A faraway hope that had diminished with time, disappointment after disappointment.
We’d been mocked and humiliated.
We’d been harassed.We’d been ignored.
We’d been robbed.
We’d failed.
We’d overcome—and then failed again and again.
We’d been, it seemed, the only people on the planet who believed that we belonged. And even
that belief had grown frail.
After so much frustration, I’d almost walked away. Almost. But I’d remained, because I knew that we were more than the world believed,and I had one last chance to help prove it.
The ninety-ninth time I’d run across a pitch for Canada.
We’d made it this far—farther than any Canadian men’s team in nearly four decades, and only the second to ever get here.
The World Cup.
The biggest stage in sport. On the other side of this tunnel, we’d meet the number two ranked team on the planet.
The whole world watching. All eyes on us.
I felt like a kid, naive enough to have enormous ambitions and believe that those dreams were possible. I remembered those long ago days, playing out those visions on a patchy field, feeling a joy that would grow into passion. Back then, I’d imagined this moment somany times, scoring goals and hoisting trophies in a fantasy land.
“Could this be real?” I wondered. My heart pounded. The roar beyond the tunnel called.
I opened my eyes near the end of a beautiful dream.
Editorial Reviews
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
One of The Globe and Mail’s “62 new titles to read this season”
“The Beautiful Dream is an extraordinary story that will inspire and challenge you to chase your goals. Atiba’s leadership helped change the course of men’s soccer in Canada. His memoir is a captivating read from one of our country’s greatest athletes.”
―Christine Sinclair, former captain of the Canadian Women's National Soccer Team and National Bestselling Author of Playing the Long Game
“Atiba is more than a footballer, he’s a leader of men and a great Canadian. It was a real privilege to be part of his dream of bringing Canada back to the World Cup.”
―John Herdman, former Head Coach of the Canadian Men's National Soccer Team
“Atiba Hutchinson is one of Canada’s greatest athletes. His unique story is full of perseverance, passion, and prestigious performances for club and country. Atiba lived a beautiful dream and the result is an inspiring read.”
―Kristian Jack, Canadian Soccer Broadcaster
“[A]n entertaining, refreshingly honest memoir.”
—The Canadian Press