How sports helped Younghoe Koo erase language barrier, make friends and immerse himself in new culture

Sometimes he had to be forward making them, even when a lack of language mastery made such exchanges fraught with anxiety. Younghoe recalled one time where, despite being nervous, he decided to be bold.

“I was going to practice one day with a bunch of friends and I didn’t really know how to phrase a sentence of how to ask what they do on the weekends and if they wanted to hang out,” Koo said. “I was at home on the weekends shooting hoops or whatever, but I didn’t really know how to ask that or what they do here. I’m in a new country and I really don’t know.

“I was sitting in a car and I thought, I’m going to do it. I’m going to ask him. What I said was, ‘I’m bored.’ They were like, ‘What? Right now?’ And I said, ‘On the weekends.’ And they said, ‘You’re bored on the weekends?’ They kind of put things together based on what I was saying and, later, they called me to hang out. That’s how I made my first move to make friends outside of practice or the classroom.

“At the time it was nerve-wracking. But I really wanted to ask because, at the time, I didn’t know how do go about that. That was a big moment for sure.”

Koo isn’t big on doing expansive interviews but doesn’t mind sharing his story when appropriate and in the right setting. There aren’t many prominent NFL players of Asian descent, and Koo is proud to represent where he’s from and promote the game to kids from a similar background. He’s also happy to help anyone going through a similar experience he had, as a kid from another country trying to make friends in a new home.

“I’m just over here kicking a ball for a living. It’s surreal to me that I can have some influence,” Koo said. “To see people support me, especially to kids who say, ‘I look up to you,’ or to hear that I’m an inspiration to some, that’s crazy to me still. But I understand that I have a platform to tell my story. I’m not the first person to go through something like that and I won’t be the last one. I love to share my journey and share my story. If I can reach just one kid or influence one kid to push themselves out of their comfort zone and ask, ‘what are you doing on the weekend?’ to make a friend or something like that, that would be pretty cool.”