Freddy Adu is not just any 14-year-old. Last Saturday, when most teenagers spent their weekends going to the movies and hanging around the house, this 14-year-old played his first Major League Soccer game. Adu became the youngest athlete in a major American sports league in more than 100 years, entering in the 61st minute of the D.C. United's 2-1 win against the defending champion San Jose Earthquakes in the MLS season-opener. The much-hyped Adu didn't even score in the game - or take a shot -but his being out there is just unreal.
My interest in Adu is not unmerited. I played soccer year-round for 13 years, going to many summer camps, and I still never even came anywhere near playing in the MLS. I can't imagine how this high school freshman is playing any sport at the highest level.
Try to think about how strong, fast and developed you were as a freshman in high school, and then ponder how you would do if you played soccer in the MLS, or the Major League Baseball, or the National Basketball Association. More than 99.9 percent of us would get destroyed. We wouldn't have any chance. For those of you who aren't sports fans, try to think about how hard it would be to do your current job without having gone to college, or even high school. Could you do it?
Could you attend college on a full scholarship at age 14 without a high school diploma?
I still can't even imagine what it is like for Adu to play a sport with men who are twice his age, some of whom could easily be his dad. To make things even more awkward for Adu, he is also the highest paid player in MLS, making $500,000 a year. What does everyone else in the league think of some 14-year-old kid making four to five times more than someone who has been in the league for a couple years, someone who might even be an all-star? I would be pissed that some little 14-year-old punk is making a half-million dollars a year. But he is not just some little punk. Adu is supposed to be the next greatest thing in soccer, the second coming of Pele. Adu has the same shoes to fill as follow teenager LeBron James, who has shown us all that all the money and all the hype invested in the teenager could be worth it. But both teenagers Adu and James are having giant expectations to fill in the next couple of years, and we all should just step back and watch what the two can do. Everyone needs to get used to the name Freddy Adu, because he is going to be around for a while and might just be what all of U.S. soccer wants and needs: that special someone who can take soccer to the next level and beyond.
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Kyle Robertson
