North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Bakong Pursues His American Dream
9/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
RALEIGH, N.C. – When Chrystel Bakong looked at the men's soccer schedule for his first season at Louisburg College, he was a little puzzled as to why there weren't any familiar names on it.
He thought he might be facing teams like Maryland or North Carolina or one of the few major colleges he had heard of in the year he had lived with his uncle in Baltimore.
Instead, when he looked at the opponents, he saw the unfamiliar names of Wake Tech, Georgia Perimeter College and USC-Salkehatchie, among others. There were no ACC opponents on the list.
It was one of the many confusing things the native of Duoala, Cameroon, discovered during that first year of play at the two-year college.
"I couldn't make the difference between Division I or Division III or junior college," Bakong said. "I thought if I was going to play, it would be against Maryland or UNC-Chapel Hill. When I got to Louisburg, I asked myself, 'Why am I not playing against those schools?'"
He asked around, and his teammates told him if he wanted to play big-time college soccer, he first had to get noticed during his two years of junior college soccer.
"They explained to me the difference between Division I, Division II and Division III," Bakong said. "I had no idea."
Bakong, who transferred to NC State at the beginning of last season, will continue living his ultimate American dream, when the No. 18 Wolfpack (3-0) opens its ACC season against No. 3 North Carolina (2-0-1) in Chapel Hill. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
His unlikely dream began when he was just 3 years old on the dusty streets of Duoala, Cameroon, a city of about two million people on the western coast of Africa. He was just another kid who liked soccer, not school, and wouldn't listen when his mother told him he needed to hit the books a little more often, like his older brother Frank.
But it wasn't until he was a little older that he actually listened. He eventually discovered that he liked math, chemistry and physics. And he also learned that there were a lot of politics – much of it corrupt – in pursuing his dream of advancing to one of his country's elite soccer academies or to the internationally successful national team.
When he finished his secondary schooling, he followed in Frank's footsteps by coming to America to live with his paternal uncle, who had moved to Maryland some 15 years ago and is an engineer with Verizon Wireless in the Baltimore area.
Bakong spoke no English – growing up in a French province of his native country, he spoke French and three tribal languages of his grandparents. He learned English after arriving in Baltimore, enduring the taunts of the few friends and acquaintances he made in the unfamiliar city.
"I had to adjust a lot," Bakong said. "I had never spoken English before. When I first got here, it was horrible. I don't know if anybody was as bad as I was trying to speak the language.
"I just didn't get it, and I was shy as well. People were sometimes mean to me or making fun of me. At some point, I just told myself, 'English is not my first language. I'll make mistakes and take the criticism.'"
He also watched a lot of news programs, and just about every re-run episode of the television sitcom "Friends." After he turned off the TV, he would stand for hours in front of a mirror, practicing his enunciation of the new language.
He wanted to play soccer again, and he continued to dream big. He went on-line and discovered there was a local professional team that held open tryouts once a week. He kept advancing through various stages of tryouts until the club, Major League Soccer franchise D.C. United, asked him to pay some of his training expenses. He didn't have the money.
He was, however, noticed by the African-born coach of a Baltimore area U-19 soccer club, and he quickly became one of the shabby team's best players. It wasn't the United, but it was a start.
The team advanced to the state playoffs, and Bakong caught a break when Louisburg head coach Dave Sexton showed up to scout another player on a different team. The tournament schedule was delayed, and Sexton saw Bakong play instead of the intended target. Sexton knew immediately that the kid had college-level talent, so he offered him the opportunity to come play at the 800-student junior college in Franklin County.
"When I first saw him play, he caught my attention," Sexton said. "He had a maturity about him that the other players on the team didn't have. He had great speed and strength with the ball. He worked hard."
Bakong eventually helped Louisburg have successful seasons in 2006 and '07, but didn't know about his future. He wanted to continue playing soccer, but he also decided he wanted to pursue a degree in engineering. His advisor at Louisburg suggested he contact NC State.
So Bakong e-mailed Wolfpack head coach George Tarantini and assistant coach Dan Popik, inviting them to come see him play. Popik knew that Louisburg had a well-respected junior college team, so he made the 37-mile trip to see the Hurricanes play. He was impressed. He went back to see Bakong and his team play in the National Junior College Athletic Association playoffs.
"He was very good with the ball, great speed, very quick with his dribbling," Popik said. "We knew we needed help in the midfield and we thought he could help us. Then I saw his grades and he had an excellent academic record. That sparked a little more interest on our part.
"He had the whole package of what we were looking for."
He arrived last year with four other talented transfers. It took a while for the team to gel, but the Pack ended up winning eight of its final 11 games. Bakong started all 19 games last season in the midfield. He's also started every game this year, helping the team to an undefeated record and a spot in the national polls.
While Bakong's recruiting is far from uncommon, Tarantini called his situation unique, simply because he didn't just arrive from Africa to play Division I soccer. He had to learn a new language, learn about the differences between the divisions and excel in one of the most difficult majors NC State offers.
"To be an engineer at NC State is very difficult," Tarantini said. "It is even more difficult to transfer into the engineering program."
But Bakong has always been able to create opportunities for himself, whether it was making his way over from Cameroon, finding a club team or getting into college.
"It does seem like he has always fallen on his feet," Sexton said. "But he's also someone who makes his own luck. Obviously, he's a great kid. I'd love to have a whole team of kids just like him."
Bakong says he is on schedule to graduate with a degree in engineering in the spring of 2011. But he has the rest of this season to play soccer for the Wolfpack, and still has aspirations of playing professionally.
Maybe he'll finally get a chance to play for D.C. United.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
