Up and coming athletes
An “up and coming athlete” is someone who is becoming more famous or more successful and could be a big star soon. Do you know any up and coming athletes or singers or actors?
In the Asian Games Japan played Qatar in Volleyball. One of the star Qatar players is Mubarak Musa who is 210 cm tall.
How old do you think he is?
He is 13 years old. He was born in South Sudan.
How do you feel when you see him play?
Due to his size, power and skill many people doubt he is really 13.
Why would he lie about his age?
How could he lie about his age?
Some athletes, for example soccer players, lie about their age to seem younger. Their skill and physical power will be more developed than the players they compete against so they have a higher chance of becoming professional.
Football teams like buying young players because they have a chance to improve and can be sold for even more money.
This can sometimes happen in developing countries because when a child is born, their parents don’t get official government documents, like a birth certificate, immediately. They will apply for one later, sometimes years later, and just say a date of birth for their child.
Are there any other ways we can check Musa Mubarak’s age?
school records
immigration dates
wrist bone scans
Now Fifa uses and MRI to scan a young athletes wrist bones. In 99% of healthy male teenagers, one of the wrist bones does not fully fuse until after they turn 17.
In 2009 When Fifa started using the scans to check players in the U17 African cup of nations many teams lost players for failing the scans:
Gambia: 3 players
Nigeria: 26 players
Cameroon: 32 players
Some people are suspicious of Mubarak’s age because there is no information about where he goes to school and when he first moved to Qatar. He became Qatari in 2026 and immediately started playing for national volleyball teams.
Max Dowman
Max Dowman is probably England’s best 16 year old player.
He was the youngest player to scored a goal in the Premeir League. You can see the goal here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGgyxS9AHLc
Stats:
Appearances for Arsenal: 15
Goals for Arsenal: 3
Youngest premier league goalscorer: 16 years and 74 days
Youngest Champions League player: 15 years 308 days.
Some Arsenal fans want Dowman to play more. These are his stats so far:
| Season | Premier League (Apps / Min) |
FA Cup (Apps / Min) |
League Cup (Apps / Min) |
Champions League (Apps / Min) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | 6 / 157 | 0 / 0 | 2 / 98 | 3 / 62 |
| 2026–27 Ongoing | 1 / 10 | 0 / 0 | 1 / 90 | 0 / 0 |
| Total | 7 / 167 | 0 / 0 | 3 / 188 | 3 / 62 |
Should the manager let him play more minutes per season?
fan feeling?
experience?
injury / burnout?
social media or media reactions?
burnout = when a player works too hard so becomes physically tired and weak to keep playing at a high level. Company employees can burnout too
The manager should use him more because…
fans will be more excited to watch Arsenal games
Max will get more experience at the top level
Our older players can get some rest
The manager shouldn’t use him more because…
he isn’t strong at defending yet
his bones and body are still growing. The risk of injury or early burnout is high when players play regularly at a young age
the team should protect Max emotionally from the pressures of professional football. Any mistake or bad game can lead to attacks on social media
Examples of burnout form overplaying at a young age: Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Jack Wilshire