My World Cup: The Bond Between the United States and the Beautiful Game Runs Deep for Jelani Rooks ’13
Rooks, an Emmy-winning associate director and associate producer for CBS Sports and Paramount+, commented on what the World Cup has meant to him since childhood. The diversity of the current U.S. team, he said, “reflects the nation in a way that I can relate to, especially growing up playing soccer at the youth and collegiate level.”
“My earliest, distinct memory of the World Cup actually came in 1998 when I was seven years old. I just started playing the sport,” said Rooks, who was one of very few Black children on his team in the suburbs of Princeton, N.J. “And then after the 2002 World Cup, I felt like I wanted to dedicate my life to the entire sport because I had a couple of years of play under my belt where I understood the tactics at a higher level …. Seeing these young breakout players, Landon Donovan and [DaMarcus] Beasley most notably, made me fall in love with that U.S. team.”
Rooks also shared his thoughts about the promising players on the current U.S. team and their prospects for the 2022 World Cup as of Nov. 22.
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