Samuel Piette is the first to admit that he had a “great youth” at home in Repentigny. But he saw young people his age having “difficult times” during his adolescence spent in soccer academies in Europe.
Posted at 5:37 p.m.
“There were Africans and Chinese who were left to their own devices,” he said in front of The Press. In France, not having a pair of shoes when it’s a little cooler and the guy goes to training with sandals because that’s just what he can afford…”
This is why it was only natural for him to come and lend a hand, again this year, to an organization that helps people in need. Around thirty CF Montreal employees, accompanied by the captain of the Bleu-blanc-noir, came to participate in a volunteer activity with Sun Youth on Tuesday afternoon. Over 13 days in December, 5,000 families will have access to basic foodstuffs. Some board games for children and soft toys are also offered.
Piette had just placed eggs, potatoes, carrots and onions in a rolling suitcase, which he handed to a lady with a grateful face, when we approached him for a little chat. With the news surrounding the CFM being very quiet these days, the discussion quickly turned to the circumstances of our mutual presence in the organization’s premises on Avenue du Parc, in Montreal.
PHOTO FLORIAN LEROY, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Samuel Piette places food in a bag intended for families in need.
And about the fact that, in the locker room of a professional soccer team, perhaps more than any other sport in the world, there are truly people from all walks of life, from all backgrounds. Which makes Samuel Piette well equipped to understand the situation in which people coming to stock up find themselves, a few days before the Holidays.
“It’s not a clash for me,” he assures. I know what it is, and I accept everything. »
His former teammate Ismaël Koné, for example, fled the civil war in Ivory Coast with his mother and moved to Canada at the age of 7. Jojea Kwizera, who only spent two seasons with the club, had spent his youth in refugee camps, notably in Tanzania, before being adopted into a foster family in Utah, then being drafted by the CFM in 2022.
“Even if you haven’t experienced it yourself, you have had a teammate or ex-teammate who went through it,” he said. They all have different realities, from how they grew up, culture, education, beliefs. That’s kind of what you’re going to look for today. »
To make matters worse, it turns out that Sun Youth’s head of emergency services, Yorgen Ulloa-Aguilar, is a former soccer player… who played with Samuel Piette.
PHOTO FLORIAN LEROY, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Yacine Ait Slimane, former Montreal Impact player, with Yorgen Ulloa-Aguilar, head of Sun Youth emergency services, and Samuel Piette, CF Montreal player.
“We played together on the Quebec team and at the National High Performance Center,” recalls the organization’s representative with a smile.
Ulloa-Aguilar explains to us that Sun Youth aims to primarily help people who “need food urgently”. But also, if they can, to be “proactive”, with financial aid programs, to encourage them to “return to society”.
“Sometimes, just food is enough to help pay a check from Hydro, the rent,” he believes. It makes a big difference in the long term, even if it’s just a basket of $200, $300. »
For Piette, this activity is one of “humility”, yes, but one which gives him “really pleasure”.
“We are all human. We are all people who have a certain background. You really do it by doing things that seem simpler than kicking a ball into a green rectangle. »
