How Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo overcame a language barrier and being reduce to thrive within the NFL

It was this second early in his profession that taught the then-23-year-old rookie about life within the NFL.

"It taught me that is by no means over. You gotta compete each single day. You gotta produce; it is a manufacturing enterprise. That is what the top coach informed me after I was getting launched. That was a giant studying expertise for me."

With nowhere else to go, Koo was pressured to show to moderately acquainted environment -- someplace he didn't suppose he would ever discover himself once more.

"Once I ran out of cash with the Chargers, I moved again dwelling to my mother and that is while you're simply ready for a cellphone name, ready for a exercise," he says.

"And when it comes it is like: 'Oh yeah, good. I am able to go.' Then there goes [the] offseason [and] two or three months go by [and] no cellphone name comes: 'What am I doing with my life?'"

Soccer gamers, and athletes typically, are notably conditioned to all the time having their day by day actions deliberate for them, whether or not it's movie examine, meals or coaching. With out that, Koo misplaced his sense of route.

"I suppose my soccer profession, like highschool, school after which attending to the Chargers, I all the time had one thing to do, on a staff. You nearly really feel empty as a result of [when] you get up, no person's telling you something," Koo says.

Connecting with fellow NFL free brokers helped him to regain that sense of staff ethos and construction he missed.

"I discovered quite a bit. I wasn't the one one going by means of it. It was nearly therapeutic for me to go to exercises [with] guys which might be going by means of the identical stuff and we're competing but in addition sharing our journeys," Koo explains.

He credit these moments of early adversity with serving to him develop into knowledgeable and a good higher pupil of the sport, though he says he nonetheless has much more to study as his profession progresses.

"Popping out of faculty, I felt like I knew every part, however [in] actuality, I did not know something," Koo says.

"I made a decision to drop that ego [and] ask questions. I wished to study, I wished to see what went fallacious, and really quickly after that, I spotted I used to be a pet on this enterprise. I needed to maintain asking questions. I received quite a bit to study and an extended technique to go, clearly."

'Powerful' beginnings

Koo lived in South Korea till the age of 12 earlier than shifting to america to attend sixth grade.

"I grew up enjoying soccer for the varsity staff. That was actually my principal focus. I wasn't actually nice at school," he says.

He describes the transition to america as "powerful," an expertise that was additional compounded by his lack of English. Koo cites sports activities as a catalyst to studying the language and making mates in an unfamiliar nation.

"I really feel like I picked up English quite a bit faster as a result of I performed sports activities," Koo says. "I used to be pressured to throw myself on the market and socialize with totally different good friend teams and meet totally different folks. It undoubtedly bridged that hole for me."

Koo first discovered soccer by way of his mates, who seen his soccer expertise and wished him to punt or kick off of their video games.

"And that is when all people noticed my leg energy as a result of [of] soccer, so kicking got here naturally for me. That is after I was requested to enroll in soccer and I signed up that summer time."

Koo remembers particularly sitting in a automobile with teammates heading to follow sooner or later not even realizing easy methods to talk with them.

"I did not know easy methods to ask, like: 'Hey, what do you guys do on the weekends?' I did not know easy methods to phrase that and even kind a sentence at the moment," Koo explains.

Regardless of a worry of sounding "silly," he was capable of muster a phrase that modified his fortunes.

"I keep in mind simply saying, 'I am bored,' they usually have been simply asking [me] questions like: 'Now? Within the automobile going to follow?' I used to be like: 'No, no, no, on the weekends.' So then that weekend they referred to as me to hang around."

'Bulletproof'

As a South Korean immigrant in america, Koo says he seen racism rising up however selected to not "reply to it or react to it." He did not take any racist feedback to coronary heart, realizing everybody has their very own opinions, whether or not legitimate or invalid.

"All people has one thing to say. All people can say one thing in the event that they wish to. It is not likely my duty to soak that every one in and soak up [it]. I select what I wish to take note of [and] what I do not wish to take note of. I believe that is the mindset that I had after I was youthful as properly," Koo says.

As for the way he offers with negativity now as one of many NFL's top-earning kickers, Koo likens it to a food plan the place he chooses which feedback he needs to eat and digest. He says his mindset should be "bulletproof" when he takes the sector; adversity from outdoors may harm his efficiency.

"Whether or not it is coping with racism or whether or not it is coping with adversity, we shank a ball ... we gotta go on the market and subsequent time, we received to now deal with the subsequent snap. That may't stick with me as a result of it can have an effect on my subsequent kick," Koo says.

"My dad taught me from a younger age [that] in the event you're ok, your expertise speaks for itself," he provides.

And when the kick is within the air, all that issues is the end result.

"You are White, Black, Asian or no matter. [The] soccer does not know who's kicking it. And when the ball's flying, they do not know who kicked it they usually simply see the outcomes they usually see the ball they usually're like, 'Alright, that kick's good,'" Koo says.

'Arrange a plan and go after it'

Koo understands the place soccer can play on this planet and what his story can imply for the subsequent era of Asian athletes eager to play within the high American league.

"It is [something] we talked about quite a bit. It is a very various group of individuals in that locker room. All people comes from totally different locations, backgrounds, households, however all of us have one widespread purpose, and we work in the direction of that collectively and that sacrifice to work exhausting for not just for your self, [but] for one thing that is greater than you," Koo displays.

"I believe illustration is massive as a result of, rising up for me in soccer, there was no person that regarded like me. It was tougher for me to visualise, [if] he is doing it, I can do it.

"In the event you have a look at my story, I did not converse English, I did not know what soccer was. I used to be struggling to say: 'What are you doing this weekend?' I believe anyone, if they've a dream and simply chase it and work exhausting, can arrange a plan and go after it."