Hellah Sidibe is a runner, a former professional
soccer player
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
and has run across the United States.
He is a
run streaker, starting on May 15, 2017,
and running every single day since then outdoors and for at least two miles.
Background
Sidibe grew up in
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
playing soccer. He moved to America to join his parents who were studying in
DeKalb, Illinois
DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 43,862 according to the 2010 census, up from 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city is named after decorated Franconian- French war hero Johann de Kalb, who died ...
in 1998 and attended
DeKalb High School.
[Zilis, Anthony]
"DeKalb grad evaluates pro soccer prospects"
'' Daily Chronicle'', September 4, 2013. Accessed January 10, 2013. "Nine years ago, a player with a bright future in professional soccer was ecstatic just to make the DeKalb High School varsity team. Hellah Sidibe had moved permanently from Mali to DeKalb in 2004, where his parents each earned their Ph. D. at Northern Illinois University, and he was one of just a few freshmen to make the team." He then moved back to Mali one year later before returning to the United States in 2003.
He played NCAA Division I soccer for the
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 ...
.
He signed a professional soccer contract with the
Kitsap Pumas
Kitsap SC Pumas was an American soccer team based in Bremerton, Washington, United States. The team played in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid. From its foundation in 2009 to 2016, the clu ...
in 2013 and played 11 games with the team.
[
]
Running
In 2017 he set a running goal to run every day for two weeks. A resident of Rochelle Park, New Jersey, he soon decided that he could do this every day for his entire life and started documenting his daily runs on YouTube. In 2021, he ran across all of the United States. The run took him 84 days and 14 states from California to New York and he raised money for the non-profit called Soles4Souls.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidibe, Hellah
Living people
Kitsap Pumas players
Sportspeople from Bamako
People from DeKalb, Illinois
Sportspeople from DeKalb County, Illinois
People from Rochelle Park, New Jersey
UMass Minutemen soccer players
Year of birth missing (living people)
Men's association football players not categorized by position
Association football players not categorized by nationality