Throughout the past decade, thousands of athletes have turned to The Players’ Tribune to share their stories ranging from falling in love to saying goodbye to the game, painful setbacks to incredible triumphs, mental health, social justice and so much more. In celebration of our 10 year anniversary, we have created our first physical collection of athlete stories — in collaboration with @assouline .
This is 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝘁 𝗔 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹.
Beginning today, the book will be available for preorder online at assouline.com (link can also be found in our bio). It will be available for in-store purchase and online at Assouline globally on October 10, 2024.
@colecaufield ’s hockey origins began in Wisconsin: “Our whole childhood was basically one long drive to some hockey rink in the Midwest. And yes, this is my backstory. BUCKLE UP, BABY. I know how these things work.
We grew up in Wisconsin, and if you don’t know much about American hockey, then you probably think, ’OK, so that’s like Minnesota and Michigan, right? Powerhouse.’
But in terms of hockey culture, at least at that time, if you were a Wisconsin kid, everybody kind of looked at you like, ‘Ehhh. I dunno.’
The competition just wasn’t the same. If you wanted to make a name for yourself, you had to go to play in tournaments in Chicago or Minnesota or Detroit. So that’s what we did. We drove. Or I should say, that’s what my parents did. I didn’t do jack s***! Hahahah. They did all the work. I sat in the back and watched movies and tried to hold my pee like a hero. As I got older — around 12 or 13 — I got a chance to go play for Team Illinois. Without blinking an eye, my dad was like, ‘Let’s do it.’
An easy weekend was a 4-hour drive. But sometimes we’d have games in Detroit, and it was 8 hours each way. We’d hit the road after school on Thursday and be gone til Sunday. My mom was a third grade teacher, so she couldn’t leave her class. It would just be me and my dad, and my dad…. Well, he’s a wildman. He coached and ran our local rink. Kind of like the ultimate Hockey Dad.” (Link in bio) • 📸: @gariesphoto
Keldon Johnson on his role with the @spurs : “I remember a couple years ago, I had a hard conversation with Pop. One morning, we were getting ready to play Dallas, and he pulled me to the side and told me that he thought it would be best for the team if I started coming off the bench. I said, ‘Yeah, of course. Whatever’s best for the team, I’ll do it.’ And I truly meant that, too.
But I’m also just human, man. And I was like 24 years old. If I said that I fully bought into this role from the jump, I’d be lying. I had averaged 22 points in the NBA. I’d won a gold medal with Team USA at the Olympics. So I just didn’t understand. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. And ultimately, I didn’t take it well. I sulked. I let the outside noise affect my play. I didn’t present the best version of myself as I was coming off the bench for the rest of that season. And I knew that I was much better than that.
I’ve been reflecting on that part of my journey a lot lately, with the position we’re in right now.
To backtrack a little bit…. When I was drafted in 2019, that was probably one of the most stressful nights of my life. I’d had a great year at Kentucky, and I thought I was going 9 or 10. In my mind, my floor was 15 to Detroit. The crazy thing is, I didn’t even work out for San Antonio. We talked a little bit on FaceTime, but I honestly didn’t think I’d still be on the board at 19 when the Spurs picked. Definitely not at 29, where I ended up going. I don’t know why I slipped so much, but thank God I did, because I landed at a proven organization with vets who could mold me.
That situation could have gone one of two ways. Thankfully, it went the good way.” (Quote continued in comments, full story available at the link in bio)
@jairealexander on his departure from Green Bay, his injury and mental health: “I’d always thought of myself as a Packer for life, had always wanted to end my career in Green Bay.
And yeah, I understand that the NFL is a business. I get that. But at the same time, just being honest here … it wasn’t easy for me coming to grips with that possibility. With the idea of potentially not being a Packer anymore.
After I got cut, I tried to pretend like it was no big thing, but I never really fully dealt with all the emotions I was feeling, you know what I mean? What I’ve realized since, in working with my therapist, is that me leaving Green Bay … it was almost like a marriage coming to an end. And for someone who had devoted so much of his life to this game, that’s not gonna be something that happens and then you just move on like whatever. It lingers. And sticks with you. Or at least it did with me. And I can tell you point blank that I absolutely blamed myself in the moments when I’d think about that divorce.
So that entire offseason, as things went south between me and the Packers, I kind of just went into my own little shell. I wanted to be left alone. I felt like I’d let myself down, let the organization down, and let all the Packers fans out there down.
I spent a lot of time just kind of sulking, and feeling really sad. I literally went weeks without seeing anyone. When that iPad thing happened, I told myself to start preparing to be released, and I really thought I’d been doing that. But then when it happened, I mean … I just wasn’t ready for it.
I really struggled.” (Link in bio) • 📸: @lradloffphoto , @richgraessle , @michaelmreaves , @mikeyyowens
@spidadmitchell ’s mom did it all to help him succeed: “My mom used to drive me all over NYC and New Jersey on the weekends to play in AAU tournaments. Her and my sister really sacrificed everything... My mom probably put like 500,000 miles on that old Toyota Camry. The crazy part is that she couldn’t have cared less about basketball. And if you think I’m exaggerating, then I have a story for you.
The first time I dunked was probably the greatest day of my life. It was the summer before eighth grade. I was over in Harlem at the Crack Is Wack Playground. We were in the layup line before the game, and it just happened. Me and my friends were going crazy. So I ran out to the parking lot after the game, and my mom was riding bikes or something with my sister, and I said, ‘Mom! You’re not going to believe it. I dunked.’
Of course, she was like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing, sweetheart. That’s amazing. I’m so happy for you.’
Then we start driving back home, and we’re on the highway and she says, ‘Can I ask a dumb question? What exactly makes it a dunk, sweetheart?’
I had to explain it to her. Seriously. This was six years into me playing basketball, driving me all around the East Coast for games. That’s how you know she really did it for me, you know? She was not one of these crazy AAU parents.
I didn’t understand how much she was sacrificing for us. I’ll never forget the time I came back out to the car one day to grab something that I forgot, and I saw her sitting there in tears, all by herself. She never wanted us to see her stressed. I guess when things got overwhelming, she’d go out to the car to cry … just to get it all out. Then she’d come back inside like nothing was wrong.
We had no idea, but at the time she was always worried about how she was going to pay the rent that month, how she was going to buy us clothes, how she was going to pay for gas. She shielded us from all that. Her whole vision was to do whatever it took just to get us to graduate from Country Day. Because that’s something they could never take away from us. And, man, I have to admit, I made it hard for her sometimes.” (Link in bio) • 📸: @pixelatebyjasonmiller , @melissamajch
“Deciding to step away from the game was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do. But I absolutely DID have to do it.”
In 2025, @jairealexander abruptly walked away from football. He explains why he had to make that decision for his mental health. (Link in bio) • 📸: @pdmphoto , @perryknotts , @lradloffphoto
Rudy Gobert in 2024: “I left my home at 13 to be on this basketball journey, and until I went to the darkness retreat this past summer, I hadn’t ever zoomed out and appreciated the arc of my life like this. It felt like when you’re playing one of those old Playstation RPG games, and you make it to the quiet room to save your game to the memory card. It’s like I put the controller down for a second, zoomed out, and felt that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be on my journey.… And appreciated the beauty of it all.
It made me understand how other people see me, too.
You know … of all the shit I’ve gotten in my career, a lot of it was deserved. I’ve made mistakes, like everybody. But the one moment that really bothers me is when I was asked about missing out on the All-Star Game in 2019, and I broke down in tears.
I think that moment, more than anything, defines how people see me in America vs. who I really am.
When it happened, I was caught off guard. I had a bunch of cameras in front of me after our practice. I got asked about not making the team, so I started telling the reporters how my mom was the one to call me to tell me the news. And how she started crying on the phone with me.
For some reason, I just lost it.
It’s something that I think happens to everyone when they talk about their mom…. Like, I would never show emotion in front of my mom. I’m always a rock. I have to act like everything is cool. But in that moment, when I thought of her in front of all the reporters and the cameras, it’s like I turned into a kid again. It just tapped into something really raw inside of me, and it’s like everything came back to me in a surge of emotions — all the memories, and everything she did to help me live my dreams — and I just got choked up.” (Quote continued in comments, full story at the link in bio)
@luthebeast ’s upbringing helped him reach the NBA and win a championship: “My parents immigrated from Haiti to Canada when they were in their 20s, to build a better future for me and my siblings. They had to start from scratch. Seeing everything they had to go through to start a new life, I learned that everything has to be earned through hard work. Nothing’s given. Words I live by. So, when the draft didn’t go the way I wanted, I saw it not as an obstacle, but as a way. When I got to summer league and training camp, my approach was simple: Go earn it....
For me, it’s the city that made me. A gritty and beautiful place called Montréal.
I wouldn’t be here without it. You can go anywhere in the city and find so many people who speak Kreyòl, especially in Montréal-Nord, which is really like Little Haiti. Haiti’s been going through it for a lot of years now, so when somebody has a chance to go live in Canada or America, they’ll do it. And that’s basically how my story started, with my parents making that journey.
Where I grew up, most people, especially Haitians, just immigrated and are starting their new lives. Just keeping it real, it’s a tough neighborhood. Basketball was my way out.
Every summer we had this big street basketball tournament. The games were extremely physical, and there was a lot of trash talking. All the youngins would hoop, and the older guys would crowd around the court. Like PACKED. If you are from New York, picture Rucker Park, or Dyckman. Chris Boucher used to play in those tournaments, and I remember we used to go at it. He was way older than me, but it became like must-see TV. It was crazy.
The crowds at that court were always the LOUDEST, most passionate basketball fans. They rooted hard for us. Having them there just made you want to play your best. You wanted to be nice in front of that crowd. It was like for a few hours, everything was peaceful, everyone was together having fun.” (Quote continued in comments, story at the link in bio)
@ardaguler recalled his arrival to @realmadrid : “When I arrived, I actually found out that David Alaba and Toni Rüdiger speak some Turkish. They grew up with Turkish immigrants in Berlin and Vienna, and Alaba is a huge Galatasaray fan. Courtois played with Arda Turan, so he also knows some words, too, the bad ones.
But it was weird because as you know, in Türkiye we address our seniors with respect. We say ‘Abi,’which literally means older brother. It’s coded into our culture. I could not call Modrić just ‘Luka.’ He could be my father, you know?
So I said, ‘Hello Luka Abi.’
Well …….. Alaba and Rüdiger thought it was used for everyone. Even me.
They began greeting me with, ‘Good morning, Abi.’
The name stuck, and now it’s too late to change. I’m officially Arda Abi, the youngest older brother in the dressing room.
Usually, you feel that you have ‘arrived’ at a club when you’ve scored a big goal or made a decisive pass. For me, that moment actually came when we got a free kick outside the box, and I was on the bench. Modrić turned to me and said, ‘Hey Arda, this would be perfect for you.’
Little things like that mean a lot.
There was another game recently where we were down at halftime, and Modrić told me, ‘Get ready, you need to come on.’
This legend is one of the best midfielders of all time, and now he was trusting me to turn the game around.
I was really moved.
I know people in Türkiye want me to play every game for Real Madrid. I do too, but I know I have to be patient. When Ancelotti says that I can become one of the best midfielders in the world, it shows that the club has a plan for me.” (Link in bio) • 📸: @mateusz__slodkowski , @alvaromedranda , Gerrit Van Keule
@ssebastianaho knows the @canes have what it takes: “I think about the playoff losses a lot. It hurt then, and it hurts now. Each one of them stays with me. It stays with us. We have scar tissue. That’s the honest truth. There’s no point in lying about it. It’s there. And it’s a part of who this team is, of who we’re going to be. And I’m thinking about it now, not because I’m taking the regular season for granted, or because we’re already thinking ahead. It’s actually the opposite of that.... We don’t want to just be talented, or a tight group, we want to have a real identity. Something that we can rely on, no matter what happens during a month, or game, or series. Something that we know is us — something that is true to Hurricane hockey, through and through.
And that thing is simple: Hard work.
I don’t care at all if you think it’s a cliché.
We’ve come up short six years in a row. And each year we try to learn from it and make changes and do something different. Sometimes maybe we’ve tried to be things we aren’t. It happens. And there are teams all around the league who have certain styles of play, or things they’re great at. And so do we. But what I want is for us to be the hardest-working team in the league. The team that doesn’t leave a stone unturned. First ones in, last ones out. That type of stuff. Because when we break through, when we finally lift the Cup, it will because of all the reps before that moment. All the hard work. That’s the way through.
Everybody is a loser until they’re a winner.
And I know we’re winners.
I know it.” (Link in bio) • 📸: @josh_lavallee , @stephchambersphoto , @lenredkoles
Making it is one thing, maintaining it is everything.
@camhey97 sits down with @sonnystyles_ to mentor him on the journey ahead and what it takes to step into this next chapter with a fresh start.
@colecaufield on the lessons last season taught this year’s group: “We’re not last year’s team. I think everybody can see that. We took a lot from losing that Washington series. They pushed us around. They owned us, point blank. But we learned from that failure and came back a tighter group this season, and a big credit goes to Nick and his leadership, and obviously to Marty.
To be coached by one of the legends of the sport.... I wish I could be cool about it, but it’s just insane to get to learn from him every day. Marty has really helped evolve my game, and I think so much of it is breaking down what I’m seeing without the puck. People think scoring goals is about having the puck on your stick, but 90% of the goal happens before you get the puck.
It’s like Marty always says…. ‘Don’t play on your rollerblades.’
Basically, it means that hockey is all about starting and stopping and not drifting through a good space. Especially in the playoffs, the space is so tight that you can’t be playing roller hockey out there. You have to park in those open spaces when you see them. I just feel like Marty has all the answers, and it’s an honor to be able to sit in a video session with a guy I grew up watching. He’s a big part of the reason I got 50 this year, and another huge part is obviously my teammates....
To me, hockey is the best sport because you really can’t do it alone. Scoring 50 this year was awesome, but it was such a team accomplishment.” (Link in bio) • 📸: Laurent Corbeil
