North Carolina State University Athletics
Up Close With Adeola Kosoko
2/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Feb. 16, 2005
Adeola Kosoko, a middle blocker on the NC State volleyball team, stopped by last week to chat with GoPack.com. The rising senior from Omaha, Neb., is a Pyschology major with minors in Biology and Health, Medicine, and Human Values. The Wolfpack's leader in attack percentage last season and the second-leading blocker, Kosoko also serves (no pun intended) as the President of NC State's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and she is also on the Fellowship of Christian Athletes In Action (FCAIA) Leadership Committee.
GoPack: What have you been up to?
Adeola: We've been having our individual practices, where we focus on technique and we're working on agility. We've also been concentrating on cardio workouts and weight training. We've been doing a lot of jumping drills, A LOT of jumping.
GoPack: How is it going?
Adeola: We're getting stronger. Much stronger.
We're excited about starting team practices in a few weeks and we'll be playing in a few spring tournaments in April.
GoPack: How are classes going?
Adeola: Classes are going fine. None of them are easy.
GoPack: What classes are you taking right now?
Adeola: Bio-chem, Biological Psychology, Latin, Medical Terminology and Behavioral Psychology which is mostly a research project this semester
GoPack: What is your research project about?
Adeola: Basically I'm examining proxemics, which is a type of social psychology
GoPack: So have you been charting the behaviors of your classmates and teammates?
Adeola: No, the freshmen from Psych 101 have to sign up for our experiments.
GoPack: What has been your favorite class here at NC State?
Adeola: I hate to say PE, although I really did enjoy that class, I would have to say Biology. I can't remember which Biology class it was, but we took a bunch of field trips in it.
GoPack: Field trips are fun. I thought you were going to say it was your favorite because of the critters you dissected.
Adeola: Oh we did that too and it was great! We dissected a worm in that class and a frog.
GoPack: What about the smell?
Adeola: Yea, the smell is pretty bad, but the frog my group had was pregnant. It was so cool!
GoPack: Are you thinking about medical school after graduation?
Adeola: I'm not set on med school. I might decide to go for my Phd in Psychology. Eventually I think I would like to get back into athletics, whether it be a team physician or a team psychologist. Or maybe I might try to get into athletic administration somewhere. I feel like I'm a part of the administration here sometimes with the SAAC stuff and I like it.
GoPack: What's new with SAAC, Miss President?
Adeola: Things are good. People seem to be more involved than ever. In the past it seemed like the only thing SAAC did was tell the teams when they could pick up their football and basketball tickets. Now we've got the ImPACK competition and we had a great time at the Winter Gala. We're hoping to make that an annual tradition and now we're trying to plan an activity like that for the spring too. We're throwing around a lot of ideas right now. The variety show isn't getting a lot of support, but a field day is. You know we love a good competition. It could be a battle of the sexes type deal.
GoPack: What's going on with FCAIA?
Adeola: This past weekend we had a seminar in Virginia, up in the mountains. It was a lot of fun and I made a lot of new friends. We had some great speakers and played dodgeball. There were student-athletes there from a whole bunch of schools.
We're planning a pizza eating competition between the FCAIA groups at NC State, UNC, Duke and Wake Forest for next weekend (Feb. 19) at Chapel Hill.
GoPack: What do you do with what little free time you have?
Adeola: I enjoy scrapbooking
GoPack: Why did you choose NC State?
Adeola: The coaches saw me playing in a tournament in Minnesota when I was 17 and starting sending a lot of letters and then started calling a lot. I wasn't even planning on playing volleyball in college until I realized how expensive school would be and how much I might miss playing volleyball. It's funny how uneducated I was about the whole recruiting process. I didn't know what an official recruiting visit was, so when they told me that they would pay for me to come out one weekend, I was all for it. I remember being impressed with the locker room. I had never seen wooden lockers before and they had my name on one. Oh and Reynolds! I had only played in a gym that big at the state finals ... and we only used half. They told me that I would get free tuition, free books, a free dorm room and I was sold. Once they convinced my mom how serious they took academics, she agreed too. I signed two weeks after my visit.
GoPack: What else did you play in high school besides volleyball?
Adeola: Nothing else. I only wanted to play volleyball. In fact, I didn't start playing volleyball until I got to high school.
GoPack: What did you do before that?
Adeola: Nothing. I probably would have played volleyball sooner if I'd known about it. I was just unaware of it. I used to go watch my brothers play basketball at the rec centers and I never wanted to play basketball.
GoPack: Tell me about your family?
Adeola: My parents are from Nigeria and have dual citizenship there and in the United States. My two brothers and I were raised in Maryland and then we moved to Omaha, Neb., five years ago. My older brother, Dayo, is graduating from Creighton this spring and my younger brother, Demola, is graduating from high school the same day. My mom works in the minority affairs office at Creighton.
GoPack: Who has the funniest nickname on the team?
Adeola: There are so many funny ones. Pretty much everybody has one. We don't even call each other by our real names.
GoPack: What's yours?
Adeola: I have several: ah-low-dah, which is my first name backwards, or Adekunbi, which is my middle name, and then there's Ola and Addy too.
GoPack: When you were a little kid what did you want to be when you grew up?
Adeola: I thought I could be three things at once. I wanted to be a part time store owner, not just any store though, a dollar store, a part time physician and a part time accountant. I thought all accountants did was count money, so I wanted to do that too.
GoPack: Who has influenced you the most in your life and how?
Adeola: My mom has influenced me the most. When we moved to Omaha, she gave me the option of staying in Maryland and if had not gone with her, I wouldn't be here at NC State and I wouldn't be playing volleyball. I know everybody always says that their mom is the greatest influence on their lives, but she really is for me.
GoPack: What pregame superstitious rituals do you have before every match?
Adeola: It used to be the pigtails, but I grew up this season and stopped doing that. I do have a thing with my ribbons though. I've been doing it since high school. I tie a bright crazy colored ribbon in my hair, and not just anywhere, I tie it around my head like a headband. I always do it by myself, away from everyone else and that is when I get focused. It also always puts me in a great mood because it reminds me of all the great memories I have of playing volleyball.
GoPack: If you had to give up all of your possessions but one, which one would you keep?
Adeola: My Bible
GoPack: Where is your favorite place on campus?
Adeola: Reynolds. You've got Tally (student center) on one side and Case (dining hall) on the other. That's pretty much everything I need right there on any given day.
GoPack: What is the funniest incident that has happened on a road trip?
Adeola: Lehigh ... `nuff said.
GoPack: If you could be on a reality TV show, which one would you pick?
Adeola: Road Rules. I'd be the person who is always fighting with everyone else.
GoPack: What is your all-time favorite Christmas present?
Adeola: A glue gun I got when I was about eight. I didn't even know what a glue gun was or what it was for, but I liked the glitter glue that it had in it and my mom got it for me. I used it everyday all over the house on things that didn't even need glue.
GoPack: That's all we have for you Adeola. Thank you very much!
