Luis Rendon (born November 27, 1993) is a

Colombian-American Colombian Americans ( es, Colomboestadounidenses), are Americans who trace their ancestry to Colombia. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of full or partial Colombian descent or to someone who has immigrated to the United St ...

soccer player who last played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

for

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. Rendon is best known for winning the Gatorade Boys' Soccer Player of the Year award in 2011, a national award given to the best high school soccer player in the United States. Rendon was inducted into the Virginia-DC Soccer Hall of Fame in 2020. Upon finishing high school, Rendon played four years of collegiate soccer with Duke University. Additionally, Rendon played in the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The NPSL is a semi-professional league, comprising some teams that have paid players and some that are entirely amateur. The league is officially ...

for

RVA FC Fredericksburg FC is an American soccer team based in Fredericksburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1986, the team plays in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), a national amateur league at the fourth tier of the United States socce ...

, prior to the club relocating to Fredericksburg.

Career

Youth and college

Born in

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Col ...

, Rendon moved to

Midlothian, Virginia Midlothian ( ) is an unincorporated area in Chesterfield County, Virginia, U.S. Settled as a coal town, Midlothian village experienced suburbanization effects and is now part of the western suburbs of Richmond, Virginia south of the James Rive ...

(a suburb of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

), when he was a child. Growing up, Rendon played youth soccer for FC Richmond, and high school soccer for

Cosby High School Cosby High School is a public high school in Midlothian, Virginia, United States. Cosby opened in 2006 and is one of the newest of eleven high schools administered by Chesterfield County Public Schools. History Cosby High School was named for it ...

. A standout player, Rendon helped Cosby reach the state championship in 2011 On May 19, 2011, Rendon won the Gatorade National Player of the Year Award. Rendon was the first player from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

to win the award. Ahead of the

2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 53rd year of organized men's college soccer in the United States. The season was divided into three parts; the regular season, which started with early season tournaments against intraconference ...

, Rendon committed to playing college soccer for

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, choosing Duke over Virginia, VCU, William & Mary, and Wake Forest.

Senior

International

Luis Rendon was part of the United States under-18 men's national team program through high school.

Personal life

A Richmond, Virginia native and former player of FC Richmond, Rendon has been said to be an influence to several future professional soccer players in the region, such as

Nick Taitague Nicholas Matthew Taitague (born February 17, 1999) is an American former soccer player who played as a midfielder. Career Taitague signed a short-term amateur contract with Carolina RailHawks on April 8, 2016. In February 2017, following his ...

, who currently plays for

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

. Upon graduating from Duke, Rendon retired from competitive soccer, and worked at Teamworks in the

Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to ...

, before relocating to the

Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and anchore ...

. He made 49 appearances for Duke, scoring three goals.

Awards

* RTD All-Metro Boys' Soccer Player of the Year: 2011 * Gatorade High School Soccer Player of the Year Award: 2011 * FC Richmond Hall of Fame: 2012

References

External links

Luis Rendon
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rendon, Luis 1993 births Living people American businesspeople American sportspeople of Colombian descent American men's soccer players Men's association football midfielders Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombian expatriates in the United States Colombian men's footballers Duke Blue Devils men's soccer players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States People from Midlothian, Virginia Fredericksburg FC players Soccer players from Virginia Footballers from Barranquilla