Urbanball Mixtapes
Street Dreams

The Sens-born 33-year-old originally harboured the one shared by so many of his compatriots across France – of being a professional footballer.

An unfortunate series of injuries throughout his youth may well have ended that particular aspiration, but Garnier took adversity in his stride and set about getting inventive. He turned his hand to coaching, but soon developed an appetite for something else, allowing his remarkable creativity to guide him on a path to the very top of street football.

“I figured out that freestyling is not a game of football, but an expression of oneself,” he says.

Within two years, Garnier’s self-expression was setting the standard in an emerging new sport - combining his love of breakdancing with football to produce some of the most innovative and ground-breaking football freestyle the world has ever seen as he was deservedly named inaugural Red Bull Street Style World Final champion in 2008.

He’s since travelled the world, humbling some of football’s greatest with his extraordinary individual talent. Just ask Neymar, one of thousands who found themselves on the receiving end of a Garnier panna. The ultimate Urbanballer, he’s become a global superstar, carving out a glittering career in a global industry that hardly existed prior to his arrival on the scene.

And now he wants more. Not for himself, but for the next generation. Garnier wants to leave something behind. He wants others to have the same opportunities that he himself has enjoyed. And so this year he’s on a quest to uncover the ultimate street football talents from around the globe. Celebrating street culture through 3 vs 3 ‘pickup games’, Panna KO competitions, freestyle demonstrations, workshops, music and dance.

UrbanBall has arrived. “I want to refresh the 'live' experience and give people a chance to travel and to be someone,” insists Garnier. “It is about discovering new talent and creating a legacy for street football.”

Taking inspiration from the world-famous And1 Mixtapes movement that took the US basketball scene by storm, Garnier wants to see young freestyle footballers from the four corners of the world replicate the success of Hot Sauce, The Professor, Main Event and the global superstars born from the And 1 movement. Garnier maintains that “the success of Urbanball will be dictated by how original the content is and how it adapts to the changing social media space.”

But it will also be about finding those to occupy that space, and as he arrived in London this month, the size of the task he has taken on quickly became clear. The search began at Paddington Rec, before moving through central London to find street pitches at Warren Street, Old Street, Bethnal Green and Whitechapel. But to Garnier’s frustration, not one person was found playing at the first five sites, leaving him to ask: where have all the ballers gone?

Rapid urban expansion is devouring the spaces once reserved for kids to kick a ball around. The growth of video gaming, the explosion of the smartphone and concerns over safety are combining to keep more youngsters indoors than ever before.

Right across the capital, there were more ‘No Ball Game’ signs than there were ballers. Garnier and Goal took to social media, calling them out. The talent is out there, but they’re being marginalised, their skills suppressed. The dreamers continue to dream, however.The red tape becomes merely another obstacle to dribble past, another pair of legs to nutmeg.

All they need is a platform – now more than ever. Urbanball Mixtapes is here to give them exactly that. And if they won’t find Garnier, then Garnier will find them. The team hit one popular tourist spot after another and headed to all the favourite hangout spots for street sports communities, including Parkour, Skating and BMX at London’s Southbank.

Garnier introduced himself and set up challenges for passers-by at locations in Southwark, Brixton, Hammersmith, Ealing, Islington, Wembley and Lambeth. And finally, the ballers emerged from the concrete metropolis.

They were out there. They always have been. And Garnier is out to ensure they always will. The big finale of theLondon tour was to take place at Westway Sports Centre and an open call went out to the country’s best trick-shot specialists, freestylers, beatboxers and other creatives.

On the pitches that sit quietly beneath the A40 flyover into central London, the city’s top ballers gather to create and inspire, commanding the ball to dance beneath the evening commuters, expressing their individuality in the most transcendent of art forms, all against the backdrop of the sprawling English capital speeding overhead.

Garnier arrived in England to remind them they were not alone, that their subculture is now celebrated from Putney to Rio de Janeiro. He was here to crown the best Urbanballer in London and closely monitored a series of back-to-back panna, 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3 games, freestyle challenges and trick shots.

He was joined by a whole host of special guests, including the most successful international freestyle footballer of all time – the UK’s very own Andrew Henderson. The UK’s top trick shot artist Liam Coyte and world champion beatboxers The Beatbox Collective were among the high-profile onlookers offering their support.

And it was there that Garnier found what he’d been looking for, in the form of 14-year-old freestyle sensation Kamel Sassi, who would be named London’s Urbanballer. “As he turned up, I could see the passion and drive in his eyes,” said Garnier. “He showed a dedication and a hunger that is very rare. I believe Urbanball can help him on his journey.”

Sassi joined Garnier the following day for a crash-course in all things Urbanball, taking the youngster under his wing. “To have Sean pick me out and want to help me is a crazy feeling,” says Sassi. “Now I am training every day. Sean has really motivated me to be the best that I can be.”

Garnier is a dreamer. And Urbanball Mixtapes is his vehicle, one that is touring the world hoping to pick up those like Sassi, the world’s most inspiring young ballers to help them realise some big dreams of their own. Sassi says he “wants to make it as a professional footballer one day, but I will be playing street soccer forever thanks to Urbanball Mixtapes.”

It proved a pretty good route for Sean. The movement has just begun.