Football freestyler became a real estate multimillionaire

“I was completely obsessed with winning the world title,” she says. “I wanted this more than I wanted to breathe.

“I would drop out of college, not spend time with friends, not talk to anyone or anything. All I did was wake up, watch videos of other freestylers training, spend six hours in an empty room training alone, go home and watch my training videos to see what I could do better tomorrow.

“I ate well, watched some motivational videos and went to bed. The whole day was all about winning the world title.

“I firmly believe that confidence comes with practice and I knew I was the best. I knew no one was outworking me, no one thought about it more than I did, no one trained longer or harder than me.”

“The joy went away after I won my first title”

In 2017, at a specially built competition stage in Prague, she realized her dream when she was just 18 years old. This hard work and unmatched determination made her a world champion. “It was the best feeling in the world,” she says. “I was at such a high level.”

And then, just like that, the joy disappeared: “It was a difficult time. The next day I woke up and I remember thinking, “What now?” The fire in my belly went out. I was empty.”

Allowing herself to lie down occasionally, Cook trudged to the gym to train, but her motivation had disappeared. She reached the top and had no desire to continue. Her competitive freestyle soccer career was over.

By this time, she had gained many followers. Cook never intended to become a social media star. In her limited vision of becoming the world’s best freestyle soccer player, she posted videos of herself performing tricks solely for comment from others in the freestyle community. It was nothing more than a feedback loop.