Okafor enjoys every moment on, off the track
Two thousand miles from home. What’s the plan when you’re 2,000 miles from home?
“I take my time and enjoy every day,” said Adaorah Okafor, a junior sprinter for the Troy track and field team.
That’s not to say she doesn’t miss California. Okafor spent the first two decades of her life on the West Coast, in sunny Los Angeles – Chino Hills to be exact. Despite being a sprinter, she said the southern slowdown is nice.
“I wanted to see the southern hospitality,” Okafor said. “California is a very fast paced lifestyle.
“Especially being born there, growing up there, my family is there. Everyone I know is in California so when you’ve been there for so long it’s like you know everything, I was tired of it.”
Okafor wasn’t always 2,000 miles from home. Originally, she was only two states over in Utah. Okafor’s freshman campaign saw her running for the Utah Tech Trailblazers, a Division I school in St. George, Utah, nestled right in the southwest corner of the beehive state.
“It was definitely different coming from Utah because it was an all-girls track team,” Okafor said. “It was much different because it was a smaller team too.
“It was more challenging because I was considered the fastest freshman. Coming to Troy, this is a bigger school, so you’re not the only fast person here. Everyone’s fast.”
Fast might be an understatement. Whatever the adjective that works best, Okafor fits it. She is fast, speedy and quick. Track wasn’t Okafor’s first sport; funnily enough, it was gymnastics and soccer, kind of.
“Whenever I played soccer, my coach never actually let me kick the ball,” Okafor said. “It was more just me running back and forth down the field, and I was really upset about that.
“My mom was like, ‘They only want her because she’s fast,’ but I don’t like running. I’m just good at it.”
Another thing Okafor is good at is finding an athletics job, bouncing from athletics marketing to recruiting assistant for football.
“As an athlete, I have the whole sports aspect,” Okafor said. “Being behind the scenes, it’s something I wanted to dip my hands into more.”
Both jobs give her a behind-the-scenes look at how athletics operate day-to-day. The California native sees a future for herself fighting for the best result in the courtroom, not on the track.
“Since my senior year of high school, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer,” Okafor said. “Something about being in a courtroom and fighting for others’ rights is just something that really excites me.
“I don’t know if I want to do criminal law or entertainment and sports law. The paths are very different, but I would love more hands-on experience in both fields.”
The career and future for Okafor tie into what she’s accomplishing now in her offseason, working as a recruiting assistant for Troy football.
“I wanted some more things within the school of sports law,” Okafor said. “I wanted to understand more of why schools pick certain people to come.
“I always wanted to know because I wanted to know ‘why did I get picked?’”
Coincidence? Fate? Good times on the track? Either way, Okafor ended up at Troy and in a position that, in her own words, has really helped her.
“Recruiting helped with my social skills,” Okafor said. “I used to have social anxiety and now I don’t because I have to talk to people, like I have to.
“It brings me out of that discomfort. Being a lawyer, I can’t really be shy.”
In her role as a recruiting assistant, Okafor gets to converse with potential student-athletes coming into the program, but mostly she talks to parents.
“I’m talking to the parents about why I chose Troy,” Okafor said. “I feel the recruiting staff picked me because of my energy, my excitement and I’m not from Alabama.
“When you have somebody who’s from California here it’s like ‘oh why’d she come?’ I’m also telling them why Troy is the school for their child to come to.”
Okafor carries an exciting energy with her, one that rubs off on the people around her.
“I would say the general public doesn’t know how goofy I am,” Okafor said. “When we are dying out there [on the track] I try to make some type of life, some type of joke.
“I just try to bring as much joy as I can because I know how hard it is sometimes. I try to find at least a little motivation to help ease the pain and ease the discomfort. That’s all I try to do.”
Okafor looks to keep bringing her “goofiness” and joy to the recruiting department of Troy Athletics before turning her attention to the track for her junior indoor and outdoor seasons in the cardinal uniforms.
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