From West Africa to Lakeville in pursuit of a dream (and soccer)

LAKEVILLE — From the very moment they were introduced to the game, Eric Opoku, Umar Farouk Osman, Saviour Anyagri and Firas Kora have always dreamed of playing professional soccer. 

They never imagined that journey would lead them to Lakeville.  

“No way,” says Opoku incredulously, his three teammates shaking their heads in agreement. “Not until I attended Right to Dream, at least.” 

Opoku, Osman, Anyagri and Kora are all graduates of the Right to Dream Academy, a fully residential private school in the eastern region of Ghana that provides scholarships to the most talented young soccer players in West Africa. The academy’s mission, most directly, is to produce professional footballers; more fundamentally, it is to empower gifted boys and girls to fulfill their potential.  

It is the latter objective that has brought Opoku, Osman, Anyagri and Kora to The Hotchkiss School, one of Right to Dream’s U.S.-based partners. (Others in this region include Salisbury School, Kent School and Millbrook School.) It is the former objective that fuels their fire on the soccer field. 

“I just love competing,” says Osman, a smile spreading across his face. “And using your will to win.”

“Yea, yea,” his teammates chime in, expressing their approval. That they are like-minded on the topic of soccer shouldn’t come as a surprise. The delight in competition and the will to win are two qualities that every successful Right to Dream candidate must possess. 

Tougher than Harvard

The selection process is unlike any tryout in our country’s youth sports landscape. Right to Dream’s high standards coupled with a tidal wave of applicants yields an admission rate that would make Ivy League universities look easy. 

For it isn’t enough to simply dazzle on the soccer field. One must also show promise in the classroom and charisma beyond it.   

Out of the 25,000 to 30,000 boys and girls that the academy assesses every year, 15 to 20 are offered scholarships. Just based purely on numbers that means  a student is nearly 100 times more likely to gain admission into Harvard than Ghana’s Right to Dream academy. 

“It’s nerve-racking,” says Opoku.  

Reducing the family’s burden

The “trialists,” as they’re known at the academy, aren’t merely looking for a better education or a better soccer program, valuable opportunities though they are. In many ways, they’re looking for a ticket to a better life. 

So for the four boys, the decision to leave home at the age of 11— Opoku from Sekonde Tarkoradi, Ghana; Osman from Tamale, Ghana; Anyagri from Garu, Ghana; and Kora from Cotonou, Benin — wasn’t a difficult one. And yet Opoku admits, “That’s where the real pressure starts.” 

But the trepidation in setting out alone is eased, Opoku explains, by the sense of doing right by one’s family. “You’re cutting down problems for your family because they no longer have to pay for your education. You’re happy because you’re benefiting them.” 

The boys again nod in agreement, and then Anyagri pipes up. “The playing experience justifies it too because it’s so competitive.” Each year, Right to Dream sends three teams to Europe to play the best youth academies on the continent, exposing the players to the highest level of soccer in their developmental years. 

“It’s worth it,” Anyagri adds, “when you think about how much you put in day in and day out.”  

It’s also worth it, the four boys agree, when you consider where the academy takes you. 

Opoku is a senior at Hotchkiss, Osman a junior, Anyagri a sophomore and Kora a freshman, so they arrived on the school’s campus in successive years. They all admit to feeling the same general mix of emotions on their first day of high school in America: happy, confused and overwhelmed. 

“And lost!” exclaims Osman. “I came to school late — the night before classes started — so I didn’t know where any of my classes were on the first day. I had to ask for directions anywhere I was going.” 

His teammates laugh as he tells the story, reveling in the irony of his predicament: he had successfully journeyed from Tamale, Ghana to Lakeville, but he couldn’t find his way from the science building to the gym. 

Aside from the myriad obstacles of being a new kid in a new school, the boys agree the biggest challenge in adjusting to life at Hotchkiss is getting used to the academic standards. 

“And to the weather,” says Osman. 

“And to the food,” says Opoku. 

“And to the girls,” says Kora.  

He is sufficiently razzed for this comment, but Kora is making a larger point: People present themselves in various ways and with various intentions in different parts of the world, and these tacit messages can be hard to interpret.    

Still, being the freshman in the group, he isn’t let off easy. And the brotherly ribbing he receives from his teammates is, most of all, an indication of their close friendship. 

If they have adopted each other as family, they have chosen the soccer field as their home. 

“It’s not only a talent they possess, but one of their true passions outside the classroom,” says the Hotchkiss boys soccer coach, Jay Thornhill. “These young men eat, sleep and breathe soccer.”    

As one would expect, they are standouts on the field, dazzling crowds -— and opponents — with their lightning-like feet, deft ball control and often-colorful celebrations. Together, they helped lead Hotchkiss to the New England tournament this season with a record of 10-5-4. The Bearcats fell in the quarterfinals to Phillips Academy Andover. 

Thornhill, reflecting on his first year as coach, says, “Working with Eric, Umar, Saviour and Firas has been both challenging and gratifying. They have challenged me to think outside the box and embrace creativity on the field. Mostly they have allowed me to appreciate the beauty of the game and what it means to each player on the team.”