“Walk by Schrank Field at The University of Akron any time between the searing summer days of August to the brisk breeze-filled days of November and you will find Kofi Sarkodie. He is a son, brother, honors student and essentially, an African prince. You’ll find him waging war in soccer practice with a gleam in his eye, as if it were his last match.”
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Walk by Schrank Field at The University of Akron any time between the searing summer days of August to the brisk breeze-filled days of November and you will find Kofi Sarkodie.

He is a son, brother, honors student and essentially, an African prince. You’ll find him waging war in soccer practice with a gleam in his eye, as if it were his last match.

You are not going to find a more athletic kid out there in the country, men’s soccer head coach Caleb Porter said of the 5-feet-9 inch, 155-pound defender. He’s smart, he reads the game very well, and as an attacker he’s composed, and he’s clean and he’s technical.

He’s a special kid as well. You look at the epitome of a student-athlete, and that’s what he is, Porter said. He’s a 4.0 student, he’s pre-med, and he’s the type of kid that just has a charisma about him.

Sarkodie is a sophomore defender for the UA men’s soccer team from Huber Heights, Ohio. At 18 he is as worldly as someone twice his age.

His parents, Amaning and Olivia Sarkodie are originally from Kumasi, Ghana where his grandmother was a queen.

Culture has been a real, real big part of my life, he said. I wear the Ghanaian wristband in the matches when I play.

He is not alone in his soccer sovereignty. His older brothers have succeeded on and off the soccer field. Ofori Sarkodie, 21, is a senior defender at Indiana University. Kwame Sarkodie, 24, was a starter in the midfield at The University of Cincinnati, and now plays for the Rochester Rhinos of the United Soccer Leagues First Division.

When the number-1 ranked Zips kicked the ball around with then number-8 ranked Indiana University on Sept. 18, Kofi and Ofori went head to head on many occasions.

Being able to attack against him, and him coming the opposite way against me, it was awesome, Kofi said. It’s always great to go up against your brother; he taught me almost everything I know.

While the brothers Sarkodie had virtually identical statistics in the box score, Kofi and the Zips had the advantage on the scoreboard. UA shut-out Indiana 1 to 0 for their 5th win of their currently flawless 16 win and no loss regular season.

Ofori shut him down once, then Kofi shut him down once. It was an interesting battle, they had a little chuckle when they were matched up, Porter said. That’s the last time they’ll play each other-unless we meet in the tournament.

Porter created a relationship with Kofi and his family when he was an assistant coach at Indiana. While coaching at Indiana, he had a large hand in the recruitment of Ofori. Before Ofori played a game, Porter accepted the head coaching in Akron.

I was able to get to know the family very well in the recruitment of Ofori and that helped obviously in the recruitment of Kofi, he said. I knew a lot about the family and had a lot of respect for them as people, I respected Ofori and I respect Kofi.

With only two regular season games left, a taste for a national title keeps Kofi hungry.

Both games games are going to be fairly challenging. Michigan State is a Big Ten team and play big opponents and Hartwick is doing well in the MAC (Mid-American Conference), as well. So, it will come down to that game to see who takes the MAC championship, they’re going to be playing with a lot of heart, he said. With us being ranked number one we have a target on our back, so they’re going to be firing on all cylinders.

While he possesses the tangibles of an elite athlete, it is his intangibles that separate him from others.

There are a lot of kids out there that are talented but they don’t reach their potential, they never tap into it, Porter said. Obviously he’s talented, he’s taken the talent and he’s tapped into it.

On the field there are few as versatile as Kofi.

He can play in the back line, he can play in the midfield line and he can play in the forward line, Porter said.

Kofi’s versatility has played a key role in allowing the Zips to play in the formation they have been successful in.

That is really what allows us to play in a shifted 4-4-2 like we’re playing, Porter said.

Kofi represented the United States Youth National team on numerous occasions. He spent the summer of 2008 competing in South America with the U-18 national team, played in the U-17 World Cup and is currently the captain of the 1991 age group. It is more than possible that he will be competing for the United States in the future, but his most difficult task may be just over the horizon.

I’ll have to take organic chemistry next year, he said. The word on the street is that’s probably one of the most difficult courses in college.

Before mastering the study of carbon containing compounds, Kofi hopes to learn more about his family’s origin in Kumasi and find time to bond with Kwame and Ofori.

I plan on visiting if I can find some spare time this summer for a month or two, he said. Ideally, me and my brothers have always wanted to go together.

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