In Focus: From Street Soccer In Senegal To Freshman Forward
October 08, 2015 | General, Men's Soccer
By Mason Kelley
GoHuskies.com
David Coly had three options: Play soccer, basketball or wrestle. Growing up in Dakar, Senegal, those sports were popular among his peers.
He tried wrestling. It wasn't a good fit. Basketball? Well, he admits, “I'm not good at basketball. I wish I was, but I'm not.” Soccer, though, that was a game he gravitated toward.
Like many African children, the Washington freshman learned the game on his neighborhood streets. Using a pair of rocks for goals, he would play on the pavement. Those barefoot games taught him to weave his way through defenders in tight quarters, but the days and the hours on the street left more than a few scars along his legs.
“We'd just play,” he said
Those scars were a small price to pay. The more he played, the more compliments he received.
“You're really good,” people would tell him. “You're fast.”
By the time he was 12, he earned a national team tryout. It didn't go as planned.
“I did not make the cut for my national team,” he said. “I almost dropped soccer. Whatever people were saying, it's not good enough if I can't make the cut.”
Instead of giving up the game, he used the disappointment to work harder.
“That's what motivated me,” Coly said. “I worked really, really hard for three years. When I was 15, I finally made the national team.”
He played well enough to catch the attention of coaches in the United States, earning the opportunity to play high school soccer at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pa.
With his father, Moustapha, living in Paris, he was used to foreign cities, so traveling to the United States wasn't daunting from a cultural perspective. But he grew up speaking French and Wolof, the native language in Senegal. When flew across the Atlantic for the first time, he didn't speak English.
“When I came here, I couldn't speak any English,” he said with a laugh. “At the airport I got scared, because a guy was asking me some random questions I didn't know how to answer.”
He proved to be a quick learner and, after arriving in Pennsylvania, the language wasn't the most difficult adjustment he had to make. After growing up Dakar and spending time in Paris, Coly was used to city life. In Mercersburg, well, “there is nothing around,” he said.
It was a difficult adjustment, but it helped to have his uncle, former college basketball player Makhtar N'Diaye – he helped the University of North Carolina to the Final Four in 1997 and '98 – living on the East Coast.
While he adjusted to his new life in Mercersburg, the soccer came easy. He scored 68 goals to go with 27 assists in three seasons.
With Cristian Roldan leaving Washington early for the MLS, Washington coach Jamie Clark was in need of a goal scorer as Coly was finishing his high school career. Clark tapped his connections in the coaching community, looking for a late addition who could help his program.
When he found Coly, Clark knew he had a player who could help the Huskies.
“His highlight tape was phenomenal, a man playing amongst boys, really,” Clark said.
Already an ocean away from Dakar, Coly was open to heading west and playing his college soccer in an MLS city.
“He came out here and liked the feel, the scope of the program,” Clark said.
So here he is, a freshman playing an important role on the No. 17 Huskies (5-2-3).
“We've put a lot on his shoulders due to injury this year,” Clark said. “He's handled it well, but it's more than we wanted him to shoulder early on.”
While Clark would have liked to allow Coly the opportunity to ease his way into the Washington attack, the coach has been forced to use the first-year forward as focal point.
“It's hard for a young guy to become the focal point of an attack, so it hasn't been easy, but everyone who has watched us play has seen his talent is second to none,” Clark said.
For Coly, though, being relied on as a prominent goal scorer is something he expects from himself.
“I never doubt myself,” Coly said.
Through 10 games, Coly is still looking for his first goal. He is frustrated it has taken so long, but remains confident it is only a matter of time.
“It's driving me crazy, because I'm a goal scorer,” Coly said with a smile. “That's what I know. That's what I like. That's what I enjoy about the game.”
To make things more difficult, Coly is making the adjustment to college courses, while worrying about his grandmother
“My grandma is sick and I'm dealing with a lot,” he said.
With the time difference, his mother, Adja N'Diaye Diouf, calls at odd hours, “whenever there's news.”
For Coly, “It's been really tough.”
But, while difficult, Coly continues to push forward. He continues to work toward becoming a player his coach believes has the type of talent that could one day land him in the MLS.
“He's certainly got pro ability,” Clark said. “Now he just needs to piece it together for 90 minutes. Our expectations for him are as high as his, and that's kind of a good match.”
From playing barefoot in the street to competing in the Pac-12, Coly's journey has taken him across an ocean and required him to learn a new language. But, like the scars he earned playing on the pavement, each challenge and every obstacle has helped him get to this point.
Now he just needs to find a way to score that first goal.
“I know they'll come,” he said. “I need to hit one, and it will come.”
