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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – If you ever see Amadou Jobarteh, you’ll find a soccer ball at his feet.
The South Anchorage High School senior’s love for the sport knows no bounds, borders, or boundaries, as it has traveled with him no matter where he is playing “the world’s game.”
“It started back when I was young, I was a kid growing up in Gambia, West Africa,” Jobarteh said prior to the Wolverines’ first outdoor practice of the season. “Just playing the sport, there is so much love, there is so much passion and I just love to play, love to learn, love to experience, love to grow. It’s just every single time I play as those elements come together, it’s just the same old feeling again when I was young.”
The talent immediately jumps off the pitch when watching the South superstar, showcased by his quick feet, ball control, and vision.
“He does things that only Amadou can do,” South Anchorage boys soccer head coach Brad Horton said. “You can tell that he grew up with the game and that he watches the game.”
Horton goes onto say that, “his ability to keep the ball at his foot, take guys on (one versus one), make things happen that are kind of out of nothing, is what really, really makes him a special player.”
However, it is his off-the-field traits that made Horton comfortable giving the “C” armband — which stands for captain, though it may as well stand for “character.”
“Amadou is a very respectful young man, I never have to think, ‘is Amadou going to do something this weekend that’s going to put him in jeopardy on Monday or the next week,’” added Horton. “He does well in school … really smart kid and the same work rate you see on the field he does off the field.”
“He is super good a leading, super good at communicating to the players on the field, which is unique in high school,” Horton continued. “I think when you create leadership and you’re doing it with your voice as well as with how hard you’re working, there’s something to that, and he’s definitely a special player and people are noticing that.”
As much as he enjoys putting the ball into the back of the net, he also finds equal joy in seeing his teammates succeed, another characteristic he learned through the game he loves.
“It’s helped me with self-growth,” Jobarteh said of what soccer has taught him. “I’ve grown as a person and I’ve grown a player.”
” I learned that through soccer, through cooperation, through going through low moments, through going through high moments, I went through it all,” he continued.
And if the 2021 Cook Inlet All-Conference member makes playing soccer, being a leader or a stellar student with a 4.2 GPA look easy, it is because it is.
“I’m a natural at it,” he said with a laugh. “I’m a natural at it my like, whole life. I’ve been always trying to just push. Push even with school, work, everything, try to be the best at what I’m at, what I’m trying to achieve.”
The South standout will shoot for the stars one more round as his senior soccer season kicks off.
