Clark student’s nonprofit has plenty of sole

Jordan Adeyemi ’28 has been working for the last four years to channel his love of soccer into community service by co-founding and operating a nonprofit that donates new and gently used sports shoes to underserved youth.

Adeyemi and his 14-year-old brother Jason launched The Shoeless Ones in 2020 to deliver shoes to young people in the Atlanta area, where they grew up. The brothers made special donations of shoes to youth in the United Kingdom and in Nigeria in 2021, and Adeyemi hopes to have a more global reach in the future.

Inspiration for the organization came from Brazilian soccer legend Pelé.

“This all started when my brother and I watched a movie during the pandemic,” Adeyemi says. “It was about Pelé and how he played for a soccer team called ‘The Shoeless Ones’ as a kid. They were the only team playing in this tournament that couldn’t even afford the proper equipment, but they were still able to win.”

To Adeyemi, the story illustrated how talent is often overshadowed by lack of opportunity. He hopes to spread resources to those who have the same passion as him but may lack the financial and material means to succeed.

Adeyemi encourages community members to donate and coordinates collaborations with people and businesses. Since its inception, The Shoeless Ones has donated 600 pairs of shoes to underserved youth. The shoes are generally donated directly to targeted charities who distribute to the local communities.

“Family and community are important values to me and are also behind the creation of the Shoeless Ones,” Adeyemi says. His goal is to expand the nonprofit and reach the milestone of 1,000 pairs of donated shoes.

Adeyemi says the most impactful part of the work is when the shoes are given to the recipients. “They give us such a sense of pride and motivation to keep doing what we’re doing,” he says.

Outside of the nonprofit, Adeyemi is a midfielder on the Clark soccer team and previously played for Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He’s played soccer since he was four years old and considers the sport to be an integral part of his family’s identity. “I’ve made so many connections, relationships, and memories because of soccer,” he says.

Adeyemi, who plans to major in data science with a psychology track, wants to continue playing soccer at the highest level he possibly can.

“I’ve seen how soccer has been a catalyst for helping mental health, but there are definitely mental health challenges that come with the sport, too,” he says, noting the pressure professionals face to perform well and the routine stresses of being a student-athlete.

Adeyemi is interested in pursuing a career in clinical research that would involve collecting data on athletes’ mental health challenges. He chose Clark because of the opportunity to play soccer while studying psychology at othe nly university where Sigmund Freud lectured outside Europe.

“Clark is so tied to the things I see for myself in the future,” Adeyemi says. “Every class I’m taking right now is helping to re-instill some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned in life. Everything is so interesting and so insightful. I’m having a good time just exploring.”