DIVERSITY | Offering a place for everyone
06 June 2008
Scoring Young As an Athlete and a Student
Interview by Michael J. Bandler
International football phenomenon Freddy Adu says neighborhood friends and classmates helped him adapt to life in the United States when he emigrated from Ghana with his family at the age of eight, and the guidance of his mother kept him focused on the value of education when a professional contract was offered to him prematurely.
Adu took a break from workouts with his D.C. United team in Washington, D.C., to talk about his life and accomplishments with Michael J. Bandler, a writer with the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs.
Freddy Adu, it is safe to say, is not your average American teenager. Born in the port city of Tema, Ghana, thousands of trans-Atlantic miles from his current home near Washington, D.C., Freddy has become a national celebrity as the United States' youngest professional soccer (football) player.
In 1997, when Freddy was eight, his family won a green-card lottery, entitling the Adus to take up residency in the United States. (Under the Diversity Lottery Visa program, the United States awards 50,000 permanent-resident visas annually to individuals applying from countries that historically have low levels of immigration to the United States.) Freddy, his younger brother Fro, and his mother and father moved to the Washington, D.C., suburbs. (His father left the family soon afterward.)
Freddy's mother was determined to make a better life for her sons and to see that they got the best education possible. At school, Freddy's classmates quickly discovered that this newcomer from Africa was a natural athlete. Before long, he joined a local team. His instincts, the coach marveled, were "beyond imagining."
At the age of 10, Freddy traveled to Italy to participate in a football tournament for athletes under the age of 14, playing for a team sponsored by a development program of the U.S. Olympic Committee. The squad won the overall competition, and Freddy was named "most valuable player."
That was the beginning. Soon the clamoring began for Freddy to turn professional. But his mother, who was working two shifts in stores at the time, resisted—despite the prospect of achieving financial security for the family. When Freddy turned 13, she relented, however, and permitted him to join the U.S. Soccer Federation's Under-17 Residency Program in Florida, with the understanding that he would be able to continue his schooling while developing his athletic skills. Freddy was able to train with the top teenage football players in the nation, and to complete high school at an accelerated pace.
Then, in January 2004, he joined D.C. United, one of Major League Soccer's professional teams. A few months later, before reaching his 15th birthday, Freddy received his high school diploma. When he took the field with his new team in June 2004 to inaugurate his professional athletic career, he was the youngest athlete to play for a professional U.S. team in any major sport in more than a century.
Today, at 16, Freddy is a stalwart of his team. The precocious teenager recently discussed his experiences coming to a new country and the lessons he has learned.
Q: It isn't easy to adapt to a new country, a new city, a new home, or a new school. How did you adjust?
A: Friends. It was friends. When I started school, my classmates accepted me right away, and helped me through everything. I didn't know the language [English] that well—and the slang—but they helped me. It made everything easier. I looked forward to going to school. I will say that when I first came here, I hated the weather. It was cold! And I was from Africa, where it's always warm! Here, it was snowing. You didn't see any kids in the streets playing, like you would in Ghana. But my friends helped me through it. They came over, picked me up, and took me to their houses, where we had a lot of fun.
Q: You attended a public school, in the Washington suburbs. How did that work out?
A: The kids were very friendly. In fact, it was more than that. They were intrigued by me. Here comes a kid from Africa—they weren't used to that. They were drawn to me, and asked a lot of questions. That definitely helped my relationship with them.
Q: So it was a learning experience on both sides.
A: Actually, they told me that in the third grade they had to do a project on Ghana.
Q: And you came in which grade?
A: Fourth.
Q: What about sports? How did you first become part of the team, so to speak?
A: The same friends who were asking me all the questions about Africa and Ghana were the ones who played football at recess. I just jumped in and started playing. They thought I was really good. One of them went home and told his parents about me. They contacted my parents and asked me to "guest-play" for their team, in a tournament. I wound up scoring every single goal, and we ended up winning the tournament. The guy who was overseeing the tournament was the coach of an "under 11" [years-old] team, the Potomac Cougars [in the suburbs of Washington]. He wanted me to join, and contacted my mom. At that time, you had to pay $250 to join, but he waived the fee. He picked me up each day for training and practice.
Q: How did you come to play in Italy?
A: The best players from the East Coast teams [in the United States] were brought together to form a team. We went to a camp, and from the camp we went to Italy to represent the United States in an international tournament. It was for boys under 14. I was 10 years old.
Q: And that's where someone spotted you as a future talent?
A: My mom didn't want me to go to Italy. She thought I'd be lost. At that time, she was working two jobs—as a sales clerk in two department stores. I don't know why she didn't jump all over the money I was offered. But that just tells you a lot about my mom. She had a lot of faith in me. [It turns out she made the right decision. Freddy's team won the tournament, and he was named "most valuable player." Afterward, Italian professional football authorities offered him a generous contract to play in their system, but his mother would not permit him to accept.]
Q: I would think sports teaches you how to cope in life, and how to achieve.
A: Yes. You learn a lot just being in sports. First of all, it helps you make friends. Also, besides being a way of getting a scholarship for schooling, it also teaches you how to deal with a lot of people in a lot of different situations at the same time. Things don't come easily when you play sports. There might be certain times when your team is down and you've got to find a way to win, a way to succeed. All these little things you learn also help you find a way to succeed in life. That's the way I see it.
Q: Tell me about one or two of the challenges that came along, things you felt you really had to work on.
A: Obviously, playing sports and going to classes at school at the same time is not easy.
Q: You've accelerated your studies.
A: Exactly. But it's not easy. It gets to a point where you say, "Man, I can't just focus on playing sports all the time." You've also got to focus on doing your schoolwork. It's really hard to balance these, real hard. But you know, when you have to go to training, you go. You do your thing. After training, you don't think about sports. You focus on your schoolwork. In the long run, it takes you a long way.
Q: Talk for a minute about being five or 10 years younger than the people with whom you're dealing—players, coaches, managers. Tell me about the respect you've been shown.
A: You know what? You come in, you're 14 years old, you haven't proved yourself, you haven't done anything, and yet you've got all this media hoopla around you. It was definitely a learning experience. I had to keep my mouth shut and work hard at practice, do all my "rookie duties"—which meant carrying the balls, the water coolers, all that stuff —and work hard for the team. As time went on, I got a lot of respect for what I said in interviews, talking about the team and how I wanted to do whatever it takes to help it. Guys read this stuff, and they're like, "Wow! This kid's really here for business! He's not here to mess around!" Over time, they finally take a liking to you, and they respect you a lot more. Also, when you step out there on the field and you produce, you earn a lot more respect from the guys, too.
Q: With high school completed, and lots of football in the immediate future, what are your goals?
A: Getting my college degree, obviously. It's important to me, and it's very important to my mom. I want to do it for her—and obviously, for myself. I'm 16 now. I'm going to wait until I'm around 18 to begin college, and then figure out everything.
Q: You mean how to balance sports with higher education.
A: Exactly.
Q: Your team here in Washington, D.C. United, is very active in the local community. Are you taking part in that?
A: Oh, yes. People look up to us, and the more successful you are, the more you've got to help the community, because if it weren't for the community, you wouldn't be here in the first place.
Q: What would be an appropriate message to present to teenagers like yourself—around the world—about working toward a goal or a dream?
A: I would say that it's definitely not going to be easy to achieve your goal. There are going to be a lot of distractions. You're going to go through a lot. There'll be days when you'll say, "Man, I can't do this, I don't want to go through this." But you know what? You've got to fight through that. And you've got to listen to the most important people around you. They're always going to help you out and be there for you. Just stick to it, man. Just stick to it—and you'll get there one day.
From the July 2005 edition of eJournal USA.
