Homesick? Imagine being over 3,000 miles from home and having seen your family only once in the last five years.
Enter the life of freshman guard Kudjo Sogadzi.
Sogadzi, who averages over eight points per game for the Stags, came to the United States in September of 1998 from France to pursue his basketball career. Sogadzi has had to overcome several hurdles to get to this point in his life, but believes it has all been worth it.
“It’s tough to leave your family behind like that, but I get a free education here and get to pursue my basketball career,” Sogadzi said. “My dad was against me leaving France. But my mom was offered a tennis scholarship when she was younger and she turned it down-and she’s regretted it all her life. She didn’t want me to regret not taking the opportunity that I had. It’s been worth it for me.”
Sogadzi visited his parents and three brothers and three sisters in his home just south of Paris for the first time last summer since leaving France five years ago. When he first came to the United States he arrived in Newark, New Jersey, where he played for East Side High School. The coach of the team put him up in a housing development where Sogadzi said he lived illegally with two other students with similar backgrounds-one also from France and the other from Yugoslavia.
For the last two years, Sogadzi has been living with Alvin Carter, also a freshman on Fairfield’s basketball team. Carter and his family welcomed Sogadzi into their home when Sogadzi was forced to leave East Side after people began to learn of his living arrangement.
“I had no objections with Kudjo. We knew each other since we were teammates on an AAU basketball team,” Carter said. “I had brothers and sisters-I had no problem sharing space. Kudjo and I lived in my basement together.”
“Alvin is great. He’s like-he is a stepbrother to me,” Sogadzi said. “We’ve been together for two years now.”
Although Sogadzi played just two full years of high school basketball, in his senior season at Nyack High School in Nyack, New York, Sogadzi earned League Player of the Year and was named one of the top 50 basketball players in New York State by foxsports.com.
Sogadzi’s superior senior season and his role on AAU teams helped him receive offers from other MAAC schools such as Marist and Rider. However, Sogadzi felt that Fairfield would provide him with the better education and has made an immediate impact on the Stags’ youthful team this year as both a starter and off the bench. Sogadzi ranks fourth on the Stags for scoring this season, including a career-high 22 points against Manhattan on January 10.
“Kudjo brings a tremendous amount of energy to the team-he’s infectious with his enthusiasm,” said head coach Tim O’Toole. “When Kudjo’s confident, he can be one of the best guards in the league.”
Sogadzi has grown accustomed to being so far from his family, who he talks to three times a month, but hopes to visit them again in August and plans to be closer to home after college when he hopes to continue his basketball career in Europe.
In the meantime, Sogadzi and Carter are thrilled at the opportunity to continue to live and play basketball together at Fairfield.
“It was a good opportunity for both of us to come to Fairfield,” said Carter, who decided to red-shirt his freshman season as a Stag. “We meet other people through each other. We feed off each other. It’s been great.”
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