Leo Conneh knows who he is both on the field and off
CHAMPLIN, Minn. (BVM) — Since his freshman year at Champlin Park High School, Leo Conneh has always strived to get better.
“After my freshman year, I did watch a lot of film after the games and all I tried to do was just become a better player,” Conneh said.
His coach at the time had given him a challenge, telling Conneh that his sophomore self should be able to easily beat the freshman version of himself. Conneh took that to heart and lived up to the challenge. As a freshman, Conneh made varsity and received second team all-state honors. Even so, Conneh knew he could be better, especially with a year under his belt.
“You kind of get nervous at games,” Conneh said. “Even as the season goes on, you get a little more confident but you’re still nervous because you’re a freshman playing against these big kids, but as sophomore season comes around you’ve seen everybody, you’ve seen every team, you’ve seen what every team does, you watch a lot of film on them and you get a little more confident.”
Along with the nerves, Conneh’s coaches like Karim Darbiki and Soctt Dosset instilled in him a mentality of always looking to score, of needing to score. As a forward, it was his job, more than anything else, to score goals to help the team win.
“My job is to score and put the ball in the back of the net,” Conneh said.
Conneh clearly had no nerves going into his sophomore year and got really good at his job of finding the back of the net. The Rebels forward was second on the team in both goals and assists only behind fellow striker senior William Heinen. He helped Champlin Park to a 12-2 record and a sectional runner-up finish. Conneh’s contributions earned him first team all-state honors as well.
“We really played together as a team and that’s why we had so much success last year. … We played for each other,” Conneh said.
The Rebels defended as a team, attacked as a team and fought through adversity as a team.
“Last year, we didn’t know if we were going to have a season,” Conneh said.
In particular Conneh, along with Heinen and Yonas Canny, formed a deadly three-headed monster that accounted for 39 goals and 15 assists. This partnership, like Conneh’s improvements, began freshman year.
“We started working on how to play with each other,” Conneh said.
They learned how to play off of one another and what the other liked. Conneh, personally, likes the ball at his feet as does Canny, but Heinen tended to like the ball played into space. All of this took two years to create and now with Heinen graduated it’s up to Conneh and the other veterans on varsity to rebuild the chemistry with the new players.
“We have to stay strong, we have to be leaders, we have to be role players, we can’t just tell people what to do, we have to show people what to do,” Conneh said.
They have already put that into practice throughout the offseason and Conneh likes where the team is at with the season about to begin.
“Our whole team has been training and we’re starting to find that little bit of chemistry,” Conneh said.
The whole team wants to continue the success that they had last year. The Rebels won the Northwest Suburban Conference last year and were one of the top-ranked teams in the state heading into the postseason. However, it was the end of their season that has created a new goal for the team.
Entering as the No.1 seed, Champlin Park suffered a tough loss to Mounds View in the sectional final game. The match was tied 1-1 at halftime, but the Mustangs took over in the second half and ended up winning 5-1. It was the second time in as many years that the Rebels season had been ended by Mounds View in the playoffs.
“Mounds view has ended our season twice now and it is definitely becoming one of those games we look forward to,” Conneh said. “We know if we want to go to state, we have to go through Mounds View. … I hope we get to face them again this year.”
Aside from the aspirations of the team, Conneh is once again looking to be able to easily beat the version of himself from the year before and continue to work towards his long-term goal of playing professionally.
“It (soccer) has always been important to me,” Conneh said.
He has always loved the sport of soccer and dreamed of playing professionally, but it wasn’t until he had a chance to play with the Minnesota United first team that he realized it was attainable.
“This is something I can actually do,” Conneh said. “This is something that if I work and put God first in everything I do I can really reach the level I want to because it’s all up to me.”
His opportunity with the first team may have helped him realize what he could achieve, but Conneh has known who he is for a long time and that has been an important part of his success. Conneh credits this to his mom, dad, older brother and little brother and his soccer family.
“These people have really helped me become who I am and that’s really important because if you know who you are as a person then you start to know who you are as a player,” Conneh said. “It’s not all about soccer, it’s bigger than soccer and these people have really helped me be a better person.”
Conneh knows who he is and where he wants to go. Now it’s up to him to make it happen.
“All I have to do right now is keep my foot on the gas, keep working, keep being a team player and just keep being who I am to be honest,” Conneh said. “Just keep being who I am as a player and a person. I feel like if I keep doing that and putting God first I feel like I can get to the level I want to be at.”
