US soccer captain comes home to Wappinger, spreads gospel of soccer
Adams partnered with the Town of Wappingers Falls and Scott's to revamp the field now named for Adams to promote the sport among local young people.
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The captain of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team returned home Tuesday to the Wappingers Falls field where he first learned to play in order to share the spirit of the game.
Johnny Molina and his two cousins - all devoted youth soccer players from Connecticut - took the two-hour trip to Martz Field for a clinic with U.S. soccer team captain Tyler Adams and to see Adams' old soccer pitch be named after him.
They wanted to learn from the best, but they wanted even more to just have a chat with the rising 26-year-old star.
"His shooting is incredible," Molina, a competitor who came looking to add elements to his game, said of Adams, "and his dribbling and defending is really nice."
Adams, a Roy C. Ketcham High School graduate, who turned pro at age 16, is more than the U.S. national team leader.
He is also an ambassador for soccer, which still ranks among the fastest growing youth sports in the United States even with the emergence of flag football and pickleball.
Adams partnered with the Town of Wappingers Falls and Scott's to revamp the field now named for Adams to promote the sport among local young people.
"They gave me full freedom to pick where I wanted to renovate pitches and where I wanted to give back," Adams said. "My immediate thought was here because this is where I grew up and this is where my first experiences of playing soccer were."
Casey D'Alessandro, one of the coaches at Adams' clinic, supports Adams' mission not to find and train athletes, but to teach young people about teamwork and life through soccer.
"It could show you how to grow and change a lot of things for you," D'Alessandro said. "Like for me, I think the sport has shown me how to he a better person, and I think that can help a lot of kids here."
Janie and Nahum Dodoo's parents hope the siblings can gain something from soccer.
The family made the two-hour trip from their home in Connecticut after receiving an email promoting the event.
"I actually want to introduce my kids to it," their mother Otelia Dodoo said, "so they can feel like they're involved in other things, other activities, with other people."
Her sentiments match with Adams' main goal.
"If you're not really having fun doing it, "Adams said, "then why are you really doing it?"
