Almost one thousand miles east of San Diego is Sudan, a country in Africa plagued by civil war. Ten years ago, Tombe Kose, a San Diego Mesa football player, and his family left Sudan to start a new life in the United States.
“My father wanted a better life for me and my brothers and sisters.because of the civil war that was going on,” Kose said.
Kose’s father was in the military and talked to him about making the move when he was just seven years old. Two years later Kose and his family started their journey across the world. They first traveled to Kenya, then to the United States through New York, and ended in San Diego to live with an uncle that made the trip one year before.
Kose slowly made the necessary adjustments to living in a foreign country with new people, a new culture and new surroundings. He also had to start elementary school without knowing any English.
“Kids would make fun of me because of the color of my skin,” refelcted Kose. “I focused on earning respect in elementary school as opposed to my studies,”
Kose grew passionate about something other then school when he learned sports had no language barriers. He played competitive soccer from the time he was nine until his sophomore year in high school. He later found himself watching a lot of football on TV and decided he wanted to try it out. His dad who played professional soccer in Africa was not happy about the switch and told Kose he would regret the day he quit soccer. Kose wishes he would have been able to keep up with both sports but knew the weight differences were impossible to maintain.
Now football has become his life, from noon till night he eats, meets, watches tapes, and practices with his team.
“All football all the time, it’s my job,” stated Kose.
The sophomore full back is majoring in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Sports Medicine and is also perusing a minor in International Business. Kose’s goal in life is to give back, to celebrate his achievements in his native country, and help others not as fortunate as him.
“Even if there is no peace I would like to go back to Sudan, there are people who really need help.nothing would put more of a smile on my face then to be able to help those people,” said Kose.
He now hopes to attend a Division I or II university to play football. Kose plans to accomplish great things with the opportunities he has been given in life.