Sixty seconds left on the clock. A flashing light from the scoreboard shines in the background. The crowd cheering him on, yelling his name and chanting to shoot. Thirty seconds on the clock and all he can see is the hoop. The red-orange rim glistening in front of him and the fibers from the net reaching out to grab the ball from his hands – but he is determined; determined to take the chance he has and make it.
He shoots. He scores.
The crowd around him explodes with excitement as they chant his name out of pure happiness. He just helped bring home the winning point. This is Leon Tolksdorf, a German native from Berlin, fulfilling his American dream, right here in D.C.
His story started when he was a little boy finding himself taller than his father. He started exploring the world of basketball, and before anyone knew it – he would become one of the best basketball players anyone would have seen. And now here he is playing college ball and going to school, all within the support of his peers in both countries and his family abroad.
Tolksdorf began his career in basketball as a freshman on a full ride scholarship to the University of Connecticut. With a change in plans and an executive decision made based on academics and athletics, he decided to transfer to American University in hopes of getting his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/International Business at the Kogod School of Business, in addition to fulfilling his future academic goals by obtaining his master’s degree in marketing. With only one year left in his college undergraduate debut, Tolksdorf will have successfully graduated under a full ride, even as a transfer student, and plans on playing for another year during his grad program here at AU.
As a man pushing the limits, striving to achieve the best, and motivating others as well as himself, Leon Tolksdorf is the definition of a true leader, among the rest on his team. Tolksdorf is taking his inter-collegiate experiences and applying it to his athlete goals for the future. He hopes to try out for the Olympic Games this summer, in addition to being open-minded towards working in a non-basketball related field. Either way – this guy is in it to win it and ready to kill it!
Catch up with Leon and the basketball team by following their updates on Facebook and Twitter:
American University Men’s Basketball – https://www.facebook.com/AU.MBasketball
AU Men’s Basketball – @AU_MBasketball
Photo Credits: Leon Tolksdorf