FRENCH-AMERICAN ATTACKING FUSION

W/ FLAIR 

Bonjour! Je m’appelle Antoine Hoppenot.

I'd like to tell you a little bit about the recipe that makes me, well, me.

- A  LAYER OF PARISIAN ROOTS

W/ MIXED CHEESES (NATURAL + PROCESSED)
PHILLY ATTITUDE
ATHLETIC MEDLEY

As you can probably tell by now, I’m French. My parents are distinctly French, my extended family still lives in France, and I was born in the city of love: Paris. Up until the age of two, I was just about as French as it gets.

That is until my parents decided to trek across the Atlantic and make camp in a Philadelphia suburb. Ripping me away from the creamiest cheeses and the softest baguettes to a city where they combine inferior Americanized ingredients to create the delicious world famous cheesesteak. As I aged and grew up (minimally height wise), at first in Pennsylvania, and then in New Jersey, so began my journey into the world of soccer.

As most young kids do, I picked up team sports like baseball, basketball and soccer around age six. At age seven, I got beaned in the head during an at-bat, thus ending my illustrious baseball career without ever getting even a single hit. [Enter jokes here from my teammates about how I’ve headed the ball more in my baseball career than my soccer one.]

- A DASH OF "THE ANSWER"

W/ SWAGGER

Basketball became an issue once I realized that my dreams of being 6-foot-6 may never materialize. That dream stayed alive throughout high school. But I continued with soccer as it was the only sport that I was relatively good at. Baseball and basketball did have an important effect on my soccer career though. Baseball teaching me never to head the ball, and basketball by introducing me to the 76ers and Allen Iverson. Weirdly enough, he became the first to shape my attitude on a soccer field.

Anyone who has seen Allen Iverson play basketball understands the incredible energy that he put out every night. Generously listed at six-foot tall, he would drive with reckless abandon into the paint and draw contact against bigger, stronger, and taller players. He was a fearless ball of energy, which is something that I always admired. His ability to  change the game with this fearlessness and desire to create a scoring opportunity was something I knew I could add to the way I played soccer. There is no athlete outside of soccer who has had a bigger impact on the way I now play any sport.

- 2 PARTS "WENGERBALL"

GUNNER STYLE

Around the same time, Arsene Wenger became the Arsenal manager, and soon afterwards Thierry Henry joined him as a Gunner. Other than drinking wine and eating cheese, being an Arsenal fan in the early 2000s is as French as it gets.

With the likes of Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, Emmanuelle Petit and Robert Pires among others, there was always a plethora of French players to look up to. As a young striker, Thierry Henry was obviously a player I admired, and thus tried to mirror my game to his. His combination of pace and skill was an absolute nightmare to play against. He used his talent and an impressive will to win to become a game changer and ultimately a legend of the sport.

These were traits I wanted to add in my own game. All the while, Wenger was implementing what became known as “Wengerball.” A style of play that focused on possession and decision making in an effort to not only win, but control the game. This philosophy has stuck with me ever since I grew up watching the “Invincibles" dominate an entire season in 2003-04.

- 4 YEARS SCOTTISH TUTELAGE

For the last four years of my youth career, I was also competing with my high school team. This team was lead by a Scottish coach named Malcolm Murphy, who had played at the highest level throughout his youth and professional career in England. His British attitude and view about soccer, which consisted of a combination of hard work and sacrifice for each other, helped shape a group of players with little playing experience into an adequate team.

Preseason consisted of mostly running around the field without a ball, and 1v1 drills that everyone lovingly described as secret fitness. He was tough on players, even pushing some to the breaking point. For the four years there, I was lovingly referred to as an “arrogant #$*+!”. His uncompromising stance forced my teammates and I to build a thick skin, and the capacity to take criticism in whatever form it came.

- 2 PARTS AMERICAN INSIGHT

INFUSED WITH TIGER BLOOD

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