Ferdie Ato Adoboe (born 1964) is a

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

athlete who set a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

in 1983 for running backwards. He is also a practitioner of speed juggling, the act of kicking a soccer ball in the air as many times as possible in a short period of time. Adoboe lobbied

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

to establish a world record for speed juggling and in 1999, he set the first record at the Ft Lowell Shootout in Tucson, Arizona, by recording 136 touches in 30 seconds and 262 in one minute. He would later speed juggle a soccer ball 141 times in 30 seconds on

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

on Aug. 27, 2003. Adoboe has held two speed-related world records, with a 100m time of 13.6 and a calculated 100 yards time of 12.7, both set on 25 July 1991. Adoboe acts as a coach at his Soccer-Magic Skills Training Program & Academy, based in Amherst, Massachusetts. He has also served as a soccer and track and field coach at schools including

Mt. Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private liberal arts college, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters (colleges), Seve ...

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

, and

South Hadley High School South Hadley High School is a secondary school in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States, for students in grades 9–12. The school has a student population of just over 700. The school's name is frequently referred to as "SHHS". Phoebe Prin ...

(Massachusetts), and in the US Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program. Players who have worked with Adoboe have gone on to play for US Regional and National teams, NCAA Division I College teams,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

, European professional teams, and the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. Notable alumni include: Robbie Russell,

Jay Heaps John Franklin "Jay" Heaps (born August 2, 1976) is an American former soccer player who currently serves as president and general manager of Birmingham Legion FC. He is a former head coach for the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer ...

, and

Edson Buddle Edson Michael Buddle (born May 21, 1981) is an American retired Footballer who is currently the head coach of USL League Two side Westchester Flames. He is one of only 11 players to have scored 100 goals in Major League Soccer history. Buddle ...

. Adoboe was a

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

Faces in the Crowd in 1983, and he is also an answer in the 1984 version of the popular trivia game

Trivial Pursuit ''Trivial Pursuit'' is a board game in which winning is determined by a player's ability to answer trivia and popular culture questions. Players move their pieces around a board, the squares they land on determining the subject of a question t ...

References

External links

Meet Ferdie
a video tribute on YouTube Ghanaian sportspeople Living people 1964 births {{Ghana-sport-bio-stub