From the streets of Brooklyn to the global stage of rugby sevens, Su Adegoke carries the unmistakable confidence of New York wherever she plays.
This weekend, the USA rugby sevens standout returns home to compete at the New York SVNS, just a few miles from where a chance encounter with an unusual ball first set her on a sporting journey.
A Rugby Pathway Begins
As a child, Susan Adegoke’s world revolved around soccer and track. Then one day in middle school, her PE teacher Mr Grozav introduced something unfamiliar.
“He brought out this weird-shaped ball one day,” Adegoke recalls. “Before long we were doing twice-weekly sessions of flag rugby. Looking back, that moment was the start of my USA rugby pathway.”
She was 11 years old, in sixth grade, when she first held a rugby ball. Now, she’s preparing to play international rugby in the city where it all began for her.
A Father’s Influence
Sport was already a defining part of Adegoke’s life thanks to her father, Gilbert Adegoke, a devoted soccer fan and former Golden Glove boxer. He was, and is, a big motivation for her.
“My dad was the one who really got me excited about sports,” she says. “I used to tag along to my brother’s soccer practice and just jumped in. He realised pretty quickly that I was pretty good at it.”
That competitive spirit — the desire to jump in — and family love of sport, would become the foundation for everything that followed.
Her “Second Mom”
Life wasn’t always easy growing up.
After her parents separated, Adegoke lived with her father, who worked long hours across multiple jobs. Sometimes that meant she’d still be waiting at the rugby field to be collected long after practice ended.
One evening, another parent noticed.
“She asked why I was still sitting there, shivering on the side-line,” Adegoke remembers. “I told her my dad was working late. She offered to let me hang out at their house until he finished.”
With her father’s permission, those occasional visits soon became routine. Over time, that other side-line parent, Samantha Garbers, became a steady presence in Adegoke’s life – and now she now proudly calls her “Second Mom”.
This weekend, Garbers will be in the crowd at Sports Illustrated Stadium, watching Adegoke represent the USA.
Rugby Opens the World
For Adegoke, rugby has done far more than provide competition. It has expanded her world.
“People from Brooklyn don’t usually leave Brooklyn,” she says, “but rugby has taken me all over the place.”
Through the sport, she’s experienced new cultures, formed lifelong friendships, and discovered a deeper sense of purpose.
“It’s taught me to be a better person,” she says. “I find so much joy in playing.”
She now passes that inspiration forward by mentoring young girls who dream of following a similar path, and wants to show young Brooklynites that with work and focus, you can make something of yourself.
“Kids in middle and high school just need exposure to rugby,” she says. “Once they try it, they’ll be hooked like I was.”
Inspiration from Teammates
Among Adegoke’s closest friends on the circuit is Paris Olympian Ariana Ramsey, and she has been in USA rugby pathway teams along with captain Kristi Kirshe, Sarah Levy, and Sammy Sullivan.
But one former college teammate in particular fuelled her Olympic dream.
During the 2024 Olympics, Adegoke and her fellow USA academy team-mates were watching the bronze medal match between the United States and Australia. With the clock nearly expired, Alex Sedrick – known to teammates as “Spiff” – produced one of the most dramatic plays in Olympic rugby history.
Breaking Aussie tackles right by her own try line, Sedrick sprinted the length of the field to score, securing the USA’s first Olympic rugby medal since 1924.
“We all jumped to our feet and were screaming, in shock,” Adegoke remembers. “Then we realised she still had to kick the goal!”
Sedrick calmly converted, the bronze medal secured, history made.
For Adegoke personally, the moment carried deeper meaning. Sedrick and she had been teammates at Life University in Georgia.
“I just knew she could kick it, she was the kicker at Life U,” Adegoke laughs. “She nailed it, no problem.”
Adegoke knows a thing or two about clutch moments herself. At the National Collegiate Sevens Championship, she had scored a title-winning try that gave Life University its first championship in many years.
“So I’d like to think Spiff and I have both scored winning tries,” she laughs. “Let’s hope we can do it again, together this time, at LA 2028.”
Chasing the Olympic Dream
Adegoke’s next target is crystal clear: the 2028 Summer Olympic games. And she isn’t shy about her ambition; neither is anyone involved with the USA 7s programme.
“I want to be the best,” she says, simply and emphatically. “And being the best takes a lot of hard work.”
Winning Olympic gold on home soil would be about more than medals.
“I think it would change rugby in America,” she says.
More kids would pick up the game. More schools would introduce it. And more young athletes — like the 11-year-old girl in Brooklyn — who first held that weird ball, would find a path into the sport.
“Getting a rugby ball into the hands of sixth graders like me. That’s the game changer.”
Under the guidance of USA women’s head coach Emily Bydwell, Adegoke continues to build towards that goal.
“Ever since we went to the Youth Olympics, Coach Emily always reminds us it’s about the process,” Adegoke says. “You follow the blueprint and then just go for it.”
Music, Creativity, and Su_Glizz
Rugby isn’t Adegoke’s only passion. She is also a musician — a rapper — and has songs out on various music platforms.
Adegoke attended Edward R Murrow High School, an arts-focused school known for its music technology programme, and supported by R&B superstar Alicia Keys. She now records under the name “Su_Glizz”, and slips into the studio whenever training allows, experimenting with tracks.
It’s another outlet for the Brooklyn athlete’s creativity, and another way to tell her story.
The Journey Is Just Beginning
Rugby has already taken Adegoke far from the school gym where it started. Around the world, no less. But in her mind, the journey is still unfolding.
“This sport is so special,” she explains. “It’s already given me so much – but I want so much more.”
This weekend, in front of her dad, her middle school PE teacher Mr. Grozav, and her Second Mom, Adegoke will take the field at Sports illustrated Stadium for the USA Eagles.
With Brooklyn grit, Olympic ambition, and a rugby ball that changed everything, Su Adegoke’s story is only just beginning.