Leslie Adindu continues incredible journey
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Texas – Think about the many fights you have had with either of your parents. Now think about the consequences. Did any of them ever leave you homeless? If not, think for a second about what would happen to you if you went homeless while still in school in the middle of a pandemic.
It is a lot to digest, but that is precisely what Leslie Adindu had to go through last year. He had just left his home country Nigeria and moved to Texas with his father. Now, for Leslie to have caught the eye of a local high school coach in the same year he moved into the country just goes to show that he had a magnificent talent.
Choosing Football
Although he had the physical requirements of playing football, the thought never crossed his mind. If anything, he was hoping to dip his toes in soccer. However, Charles Perry, the football coach at Arlington Heights High School, saw something in him that he had yet to see in himself.
It took some persuasion to get him to join the junior varsity football team, but he gave it his all when he did. “He didn’t know how to put the pads on. He didn’t know the rules of the game, it was a clean slate,” the head coach of Arlington Heights head Phil Young said.
“Think about it, you come across the world, to a new country, to play a new game. It’s tough, and he just worked and worked, and he made some great strides as a junior.” Phil said. Aside from being new in the country, he was new at this game, yet he had all this passion inside him.
The Downhill Road
Just when things were seemingly headed in the right direction, they took a left turn really quick. The pandemic took over, and he lost contact with his coaches when they had to take a break as experts tried to make sense of the new normal.
To add salt to the injury, he was not in a good place with his father, and when a fight ensued, his father moved to a new location and left him behind. Not many 18 year olds have the finances to keep them afloat, especially in a pandemic, so Leslie had now become homeless. Most young people would be distraught if faced with a similar situation.
When things started to open up, and he thought he could play football again, his age became his stumbling block. He had now turned 19 and was a little too old for high school football. Maybe football just wasn’t his thing, and this was a sign he should quit.
Road to Recovery
Not Leslie. He wasn’t a quitter. “I told Leslie if he came to school every day and showed up at practice and worked out, we’d play him in our scrimmages to get a little tape out there, we’d bug every college coach in the country at every school we could until we found someone who’d give him a shot,” coach Young said.
I don’t know about you but to still have hope in the face of all the barriers is not for the faint-hearted. It is his heart that won over the coach who worked tirelessly to secure him a spot.
“For Leslie to do that, just shows what kind of heart he has,” Young continued. “There aren’t a lot of kids who would keep showing up and working after being told they were ineligible. For him to do that made us work even harder to find him a spot.”
Well, it seems that faith and hard work are excellent ingredients for success, as the plan worked out. Leslie had never played a single game at the varsity level, but he was able to get into Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri.
To add to his blessings, his ticket to the university was fully paid for as the coaches in his new school offered him a scholarship based on his potential.
His advice to people who may have experienced such trying situations – “Basically, don’t give up,” he said. “Most people would have given up. Just don’t give up. Do the best you can and leave the rest to God.”
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