Sophomore slump? What sophomore slump?
In just his second season as a professional, Patrick Nyarko has become one of the better players in the MLS, and is leading the Chicago Fire on a tear throughout the league.
Through 12 games, the Fire led the Eastern Conference with a record of 5-1-6, and Nyarko played a large role in the successful start. As a rookie, he played in only 9 games, starting just two. He scored just one goal in that time.
This season has been a different story. Nyarko has scored two goals, and has two assists while appearing in all 12 games. He has started nine of them, and is well on his way to establishing himself as a formidable forward in the MLS.
Not only has the former Hokie adjusted to life as a veteran on the field, he is getting pretty used to that life off the field.
"It's pretty great not being a rookie, obviously you don't have to do any of the rookie duties," Nyarko said.
In the world of professional sports, one of the most long-lasting and famous traditions is the hazing of rookies. This can be anything from practical jokes to forcing the rookies to carry the veterans' luggage on away trips. It wouldn't be hard for the young player to relinquish those duties.
Nyarko said the biggest problem he faced in his initial season was battling injuries, and his biggest goal for this year was to remain healthy.
"If you are healthy you can do everything: improve your game, help the team, and do whatever you can."
He has already spent 600 more minutes on the field this season than last, and hopes to remain on the field as much as possible the rest of the way.
Life on the road has not been too difficult for Nyarko, who attributed much of the smooth transition to the pros from college to Virginia Tech's athletic department.
"They definitely prepared me well. The administration's set-up is of a higher standard. They made it so easy for a student-athlete to have the peace of mind to study and still compete," Nyarko said, "from the pitch we played on, to the locker room, to travel schedule...everything is so close to what we have in the pros so the adjustment was not hard."
Nyarko is most famous for earning All-American honors on the first team in 2007, and leading Tech to a Final Four appearance in the NCAA Tournament, before bowing out to Wake Forest in the semifinals.
He is widely considered to be the best player to ever come through the Hokie soccer program, which has seen recent unprecedented success under now former coach Oliver Weiss, who recruited Nyarko from Ghana, in western Africa.
Earlier this season, Ghana's national team head coach Milovan Rajevac watched Nyarko play. Coach Rajevac is in the process of scouting players to potentially join the national squad as it prepares for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Rajevac reportedly liked what he saw from the young forward. Only time will tell whether Nyarko will be called up to play for his nation in the World Cup qualifying matches, but the idea of playing for his nation excites him.
"It would be great to play in a World Cup, but I need to make the team first and help them qualify before that," Nyarko said.
The spectacle that is the World Cup is the pinnacle of the soccer profession, and Nyarko would be the first Hokie to ever participate.
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