If you were offered a lucrative contract to play professional soccer, many would immediately sign on the dotted line.
But that was not the case for one student-athlete at Georgetown University.
He turned down a contract with Major League Soccer opting instead for a college degree.
Joshua Yaro is a 19-year-old central defender for the Hoyaswho was pegged by many as the No. 1 pick in the MLS SuperDraft.
“He is the fastest player I have ever seen on the soccer field at any level,” said Georgetown men's soccer head coach Brian Wiese.
Yaro can win the ball before he has even stepped on the field.
“The ball was played into the corner and Joshua was in a foot race with a forward,” said Wiese. “Their coach literally told their forward to stop running because he was running against Yaro.”
Yaro grew up in Ghana. But the Georgetown Hoyas are not very well known in West Africa.
“It's a miracle that I ended up at Georgetown,” Yaro told us.
“He had to Google Georgetown,” said Wiese.
“I didn't even know anything about Georgetown, so I went on Google, searched Georgetown, and said, ‘Ah, that's a good school,” Yaro recalled.
He had the option to enter the MLS SuperDraft through the Generation Adidas program, which gives underclassmen a guaranteed 3-year contract. In his case, that was rumored to be in excess of $200,000 a year.
“I wasn't looking at the money,” said Yaro. “I was looking at if I leave, I want to be able to graduate from Georgetown, and the answer to me was no.”
Yaro is the epitome of a student-athlete. He has a 3.7 grade point average and has made the Dean's List every semester at Georgetown while taking 18 credit hours while playing soccer.
“He needs a little Superman outfit,” his head coach said. “He changes from his soccer kit to his class duds."
“He can do whatever he wants. I think how he handles people, his drive, once he has his eyes set on something, it is unique. Whatever he sets his mind to, he will succeed at it.
“Right now, his mind is set on giving back to Ghana.”
For someone that wants to work in diplomacy, there is no better place to be than Washington D.C.
After his soccer career is finished, Yaro wants to be a role model for future Joshua Yaros.
“Setting up programs that will encourage and teach young and upcoming kids that you can be a soccer player, which is something that every kid in Ghana loves, and at the same time get a college degree,” he said. “I think it would be a difference in the way our culture is set up right now.”
Before he is the Ghanaian ambassador or even enters the MLS, Yaro has some unfinished business at Georgetown.
“We are going to go to the College Cup and hopefully win it,” he said.