Michael Adedokun: from the fruit stand to the soccer pitch. Adedokun is a current senior midfielder on the Ohio State men’s soccer team. Credit: Photo Courtesy of Michael Adedokun
Every day after school ended at 2 p.m., Michael Adedokun would report to his mother’s fruit stand in Eruwa, Nigeria. She’d give him a load to sell and instructions to return once he did.
But Adedokun wasn’t a very good salesman.
His little legs carried him not to customers, but to the soccer pitch. Dumping his sundries at the sideline, Adedokun said he couldn’t help but be swept up into the game, heat and dirt.
Returning home at the end of each day, pockets no heavier than they were when he left, he said he couldn’t hide the dust on his clothes or the sweat on his forehead. In earnest, he’d tell his mother the customers were few and far between, trying to explain away the unsold allotment she’d given him hours before.
She saw right through him.
Adedokun said he was born with his passion for the game, a trait as integral to who he is as his brown eyes and broad smile.
Adedokun said his mother made him work longer hours, making him watch the store while she was away. She even hid his soccer ball, he said.
Adedokun said she took it a step further and asked the school administrator to keep him from playing. They told her that he was one of the best talents they’d ever seen, so they couldn’t help her keep him from the sport.
She was furious, Adedokun said, but he couldn’t blame her. She wanted him to focus solely on academics as their life was not easy, he said.
“Everything we sell is just to survive,” Adedokun said.
But Adedokun played on. As his skills grew, so too did his reputation. Adedokun said eventually a coach from one of Nigeria’s top soccer academies noticed him and asked him to join their team around 2010. It was what he had always prayed for, what he called “a dream come true,” but he told the coach that he couldn’t commit without his mom’s support, he said.
The coach came by his house and tried to convince Adedokun’s mother to let him join the team but was unsuccessful. He visited a second time. This time, Adedokun’s mother agreed to let him play on one condition – the coach would have to accept responsibility for Adedokun through a mutual agreement, he said.
The coach signed it.
Adedokun’s passion persisted as he played through middle and high school against kids who were bigger, older and stronger than him. But he said he wasn’t discouraged; each challenge honed his skills.
At 16, Adedokun graduated high school and got a scholarship to play at Segun Odegbami International College & Sports Academy. One of his first events there was the Governor’s Cup, a nationally televised tournament, where he was the youngest player to participate.
He was the top scorer and named the Most Valuable Player. It was when she watched her son shine on the field that Adedokun’s mother finally came around, he said.
“My mom was watching me on national television, and she was crying,” Adedokun said.
After the tournament, reporters came by the house to ask what she did to help Adedokun become so successful.
“She couldn’t lie. She said, ‘I was his biggest problem because I never wanted him to play. I didn’t know he was going to be amazing,’” Adedokun said.
After that, she was his biggest fan.
“She gave me all the support I needed to play the game,” he said. “When you have your parents behind you, you can achieve everything.”
Adedokun said he lost his mom that same year in 2016, but her love kept him going.
“We don’t have money,” Adedokun said. “We don’t have anything. It is really good when you don’t have money to always believe in the strength that you have as a person, too, to be able to live out your direction.”
Soccer was integral in helping Adedokun develop that strength. During team camp, he would wake up early to deliver water before practice, and work more between training sessions, he said.
“I worked maybe 12-18 hours to make almost $1. That’s the way life is – you just have to find a way to survive. When I came to America, it seemed like a great stepping stone,” he said.
Playing college soccer presented Adedokun with an opportunity to pursue the game he loved while also getting the education that his mother had always valued.
“All those moments of difficulty as I just saw it as a way to everything that I prayed for,” he said. “I go through what’s in front of me so that I can learn what I need to get where I want to be.”
Despite the challenges he faced, Adedokun said he knows he wouldn’t be who he is without those experiences.
“When you’re coming from an environment where you struggle every single day, it’s hard for you to get to where you really want to get to. But you can still get it based on your passion. So don’t lose yourself. And keep working on yourself every single day,” he said.
Adedokun said he doesn’t know who or where he would be without soccer.
“When you take soccer out of me, I cannot live,” he said.
Adedokun said his future is focused on more than just reaching his full potential on the pitch.
“I always want to be the best ‘whatever.’ Not just the player on the field, but to be the best I can be,” he said. “I really want to help as many people as I can. Because back at home, I’ve seen a lot of people – their only prayer is for daily bread. My goal, what makes me get up every single day, and keep working to be a better version of myself, is the ability to be able to provide them with a bakery where they can make their own bread. That’s my biggest motivation in life.”
