North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Extra Effort on the Field and Off
11/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. Over the course of the 2008 season, the NC State men’s soccer team has faced different challenges to revamp a program that lost all but three of its starters from a year ago, both on the field and in the classroom.
Heading into this afternoon’s matchup in the ACC Tournament against top-seeded and No. 1 ranked Wake Forest, the Wolfpack has won eight of its last 10 games, dramatically turning around its 1-5-1 start to the season.
But equally as impressive as the Wolfpack turnaround was the diligent work by the athletics department and university staff that helped ensure the bevy of new players were properly admitted to the university and fully eligible under NCAA guidelines.
NC State soccer coach George Tarantini brought in a 14-player recruiting class with a strong international flavor, something that is not unusual in a sport that frequently looks outside the U.S. borders to populate rosters all over the country.
That tradition at NC State goes back decades. Somnuk Vixaysouk of Thailand was NC State’s first ACC Player of the Year, in 1971. Nigerians Prince Afejuku, Sam Owoh, Sam Okpodu and Chibuzor Ehilegbu followed in the 1980s. Tab Ramos, the most accomplished player in NC State soccer history, is a native of Uruguay. And the current team’s leading scorer, junior Ronnie Bouemboue, was born in the Congo before moving to New York.
But the four international newcomers on this year’s team Korede Aiyegbusi of London, Chrystel Bakong of Cameroon, Federico Nachmann of Argentina and Romulo Manzano of Venezuela transferred to NC State from U.S. and international junior colleges, a unusually large number that created a multitude of challenges for NC State’s admissions office, the athletics department compliance office and the athletics academic support program.
“It’s sometimes a slow process, but I think making sure that they were admitted to school and were eligible for this season shows the exemplary front-end service many of our student-athletes receive across campus,” said Phil Moses, executive director for NC State’s Academic Support for Student-Athletes program.
The challenges came in proving that each of the four students had completed the NCAA-mandated 40 percent of their degree requirements to be eligible for this season. That was particularly difficult for Manzano, who transferred from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela, into the NC State College of Engineering.
“Romulo shows a great deal of promise not only as an athlete, but also as an engineer and productive citizen where ever he may choose to reside after college,” said Alice Forgety, coordinator of transfer admissions. “Coming to NC State in the College of Engineering has the potential to be a life-changing opportunity for him.”
But it’s not easy for anyone to transfer into engineering at NC State.
“There is a highly prescribed course of study,” Forgety said. “Once Romulo was admitted, all of his international coursework needed to be evaluated for transfer credit. I was able to facilitate evaluations and coordinate with faculty members from various departments and colleges across campus to complete those evaluations.”
The other three international newcomers faced similar challenges that had to be overcome in the late summer, before pre-season practice began.
“It can get kind of hectic during that time of the year,” Moses said. “We had a lot of people who went above and beyond, busting their humps, to help us get done what we needed to do.”
But it can be like that every fall, in every department and college on a campus of more than 30,000 students. So, in some regard, the extra effort was not that unusual.
“I’m just doing my job,” said Darnell Johnson, student service manager in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences dean’s office. “We try to give all students the same attention whether they're a student-athletes or not. All students are special, and that is why I am here, to serve them.”
In the end, NC State soccer has benefitted greatly from the presence of the newcomers this season.
“They have given us a lot of depth and helped our confidence,” said co-captain Bouemboue. “It was tough not knowing them when we got here in the summer and learning everything about what they were capable of. But they have really stepped up and helped us a lot. They have played a crucial role on this team and we are excited to have them here, for this year and for next.”
And, as the season nears its end, the extra effort on everyone’s part has paid big dividends for the men’s soccer program.
“George and his staff have brought some great young men into this program and their quality is not only showing on the field now but academically as well,” said associate athletics director Dick Christy, NC State’s administrator for men’s soccer.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
