Now, Koo is the second-highest paid kicker within the league having signed a five-year contract extension with the Atlanta Falcons earlier this yr.
But it surely hasn’t all been easy crusing for the South Korean native.
Regardless of a collegiate profession with Georgia Southern by which he transformed a staff file 88.6% of his area aim makes an attempt and was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award for the nation’s finest kicker, Koo went undrafted in 2017 and signed a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Chargers shortly after.
He rapidly impressed, successful the beginning position in preseason over incumbent kicker Josh Lambo, however a long-term place within the staff proved elusive.
It was this second early in his profession that taught the then-23-year-old rookie about life within the NFL.
“It taught me that is by no means over. You gotta compete each single day. You gotta produce; it is a manufacturing enterprise. That is what the top coach instructed me after I was getting launched. That was a giant studying expertise for me.”
With nowhere else to go, Koo was compelled to show to somewhat acquainted environment — someplace he didn’t suppose he would ever discover himself once more.
“Once I ran out of cash with the Chargers, I moved again house to my mother and that is if you’re simply ready for a telephone name, ready for a exercise,” he says.
“And when it comes it is like: ‘Oh yeah, good. I am able to go.’ Then there goes [the] offseason [and] two or three months go by [and] no telephone name comes: ‘What am I doing with my life?'”
Soccer gamers, and athletes usually, are significantly conditioned to at all times having their every day actions deliberate for them, whether or not it’s movie examine, meals or coaching. With out that, Koo misplaced his sense of route.
“I suppose my soccer profession, like highschool, faculty after which attending to the Chargers, I at all times had one thing to do, on a staff. You virtually really feel empty as a result of [when] you get up, no one’s telling you something,” Koo says.
Connecting with fellow NFL free brokers helped him to regain that sense of staff ethos and construction he missed.
“I realized rather a lot. I wasn’t the one one going by way of it. It was virtually therapeutic for me to go to exercises [with] guys which might be going by way of the identical stuff and we’re competing but in addition sharing our journeys,” Koo explains.
He credit these moments of early adversity with serving to him turn out to be knowledgeable and a fair higher pupil of the sport, though he says he nonetheless has much more to be taught as his profession progresses.
“Popping out of school, I felt like I knew every little thing, however [in] actuality, I did not know something,” Koo says.
“I made a decision to drop that ego [and] ask questions. I wished to be taught, I wished to see what went incorrect, and really quickly after that, I spotted I used to be a pet on this enterprise. I needed to maintain asking questions. I acquired rather a lot to be taught and an extended approach to go, clearly.”
‘Powerful’ beginnings
Koo lived in South Korea till the age of 12 earlier than shifting to america to attend sixth grade.
“I grew up enjoying soccer for the varsity staff. That was actually my fundamental focus. I wasn’t actually nice in class,” he says.
He describes the transition to america as “robust,” an expertise that was additional compounded by his lack of English. Koo cites sports activities as a catalyst to studying the language and making pals in an unfamiliar nation.
“I really feel like I picked up English rather a lot faster as a result of I performed sports activities,” Koo says. “I used to be compelled to throw myself on the market and socialize with totally different pal teams and meet totally different individuals. It undoubtedly bridged that hole for me.”
Koo first discovered soccer by way of his pals, who seen his soccer expertise and wished him to punt or kick off of their video games.
“And that is when all people noticed my leg energy as a result of [of] soccer, so kicking got here naturally for me. That is after I was requested to enroll in soccer and I signed up that summer season.”
Koo remembers particularly sitting in a automobile with teammates heading to apply sooner or later not even understanding the best way to talk with them.
“I did not know the best way to ask, like: ‘Hey, what do you guys do on the weekends?’ I did not know the best way to phrase that and even kind a sentence at the moment,” Koo explains.
Regardless of a worry of sounding “silly,” he was capable of muster a phrase that modified his fortunes.
“I bear in mind simply saying, ‘I am bored,’ and so they have been simply asking [me] questions like: ‘Now? Within the automobile going to apply?’ I used to be like: ‘No, no, no, on the weekends.’ So then that weekend they referred to as me to hang around.”
‘Bulletproof’
As a South Korean immigrant in america, Koo says he seen racism rising up however selected to not “reply to it or react to it.” He did not take any racist feedback to coronary heart, understanding everybody has their very own opinions, whether or not legitimate or invalid.
“All people has one thing to say. All people can say one thing in the event that they wish to. It is not likely my accountability to soak that each one in and take up [it]. I select what I wish to take note of [and] what I do not wish to take note of. I believe that is the mindset that I had after I was youthful as properly,” Koo says.
As for the way he offers with negativity now as one of many NFL’s top-earning kickers, Koo likens it to a food plan the place he chooses which feedback he needs to eat and digest. He says his mindset should be “bulletproof” when he takes the sphere; adversity from outdoors might damage his efficiency.
“Whether or not it is coping with racism or whether or not it is coping with adversity, we shank a ball … we gotta go on the market and subsequent time, we acquired to now give attention to the subsequent snap. That may’t stick with me as a result of it would have an effect on my subsequent kick,” Koo says.
“My dad taught me from a younger age [that] in case you’re adequate, your expertise speaks for itself,” he provides.
And when the kick is within the air, all that issues is the end result.
“You are White, Black, Asian or no matter. [The] soccer does not know who’s kicking it. And when the ball’s flying, they do not know who kicked it and so they simply see the outcomes and so they see the ball and so they’re like, ‘Alright, that kick’s good,'” Koo says.
‘Arrange a plan and go after it’
Koo understands the place soccer can play on the planet and what his story can imply for the subsequent era of Asian athletes eager to play within the high American league.
“It is [something] we talked about rather a lot. It is a very numerous group of individuals in that locker room. All people comes from totally different locations, backgrounds, households, however all of us have one frequent aim, and we work in the direction of that collectively and that sacrifice to work exhausting for not just for your self, [but] for one thing that is greater than you,” Koo displays.
“I believe illustration is huge as a result of, rising up for me in soccer, there was no one that regarded like me. It was more durable for me to visualise, [if] he is doing it, I can do it.
“In case you have a look at my story, I did not converse English, I did not know what soccer was. I used to be struggling to say: ‘What are you doing this weekend?’ I believe anyone, if they’ve a dream and simply chase it and work exhausting, can arrange a plan and go after it.”
