Camille Summers
While Wasswa Robbins is a sophomore at the Lovett School, he also happens to be a kid from Uganda, and the right-forward on the Atlanta United Academy soccer team.
Wasswa moved from Uganda to the United States about 4 years ago. He lived in Uganda for about 11 years. Although he lives in Atlanta now, he spends his summers in Uganda, visiting his village, and his grandparents, aunts, and uncles. This summer in particular, he was able to share and teach a bible lesson to the younger kids in Uganda and aid them wherever they needed it.
Wasswa grew up playing soccer. “I’ve been playing it for as long as I can remember,” he says.
After moving from Uganda, his passion for soccer deepened. When he first moved, he played for a team in Florida, the Clearwater Chargers. From the Clearwater Chargers, he was recruited to Orlando City and their DA program, and from there, he was recruited to Atlanta United Academy.
In Atlanta, everything is “top-notch” he says. They have really good strength and conditioning coaches, they do video analysis, and the training is really high-level. The coaches work to bring out the best in the players. “Also Arthur [Blank, the founder of Atlanta United], he’s a really nice guy, and he cares about the kids and their development. Not just the pros. He cares about everyone in the whole club.”
Wasswa has practices for the Atlanta United Academy every Monday through Thursday from 6-8 p.m. and games on Saturdays.
His favorite part of soccer is “obviously scoring goals because the feeling of scoring a goal is just amazing, but I also like dribbling. I love dribbling and beating players. I think that’s my second favorite after scoring goals.”
This past summer, his team made it to the national championships. It was their second time in a row making it. Last year, his team won, but he wasn’t a part of the team yet. This year, they had to play eight games in order to make it to the finals. They won the first game, then tied, then won, and so on, but unfortunately, they lost the finals 5-1.
Wasswa has to work really hard to balance soccer and his school. He came in as a freshman to Lovett. “It was cool, but also scary,” he says. “I came into a new environment, and I had to meet new people. All of your classmates really kind of grew up together, so you had to kind of fit in.”
But along with “fitting in” to the Lovett society, Wasswa has to keep up with the school work and continue to work on his soccer skills.
“It’s really hard,” he says. “I think in Middle School, you didn’t have a lot of homework. But now, in high school, the workload is really picking up. It’s becoming a really tough challenge to balance school and soccer.”
Most of Wasswa’s teammates are taking online school courses, which consists of about 3-4 hours a day of school. This allows more free-time to work on their soccer skills. Although Wasswa has less time for soccer than his peers, he appreciates the fact that he is in a real, proper school and meeting new friends.
The Lovett community has really helped him out, he says. “The teachers are obviously really nice and I think a lot of them know who I am kind of, and a lot of them try to help me, especially the deans. The students, they kind of know who I am too, and that’s really nice, and they are really nice to me too.”
Not only has the Lovett community helped him, he also has created his own club called Africa Interactive, alongside Mr. Houngblame. Within the club, they have interactive activities with the kids he grew up with in Uganda. Currently, they are having art contests. The Lovett students create some art, and the kids in Uganda create some art as well. Then, they have an exchange of pieces.
It’s all very impressive. He’s developing as a soccer player, as a student, and as a kind of ambassador to and from Uganda. And he comes to school with a smile every day.
