Dylan d’Adesky, a senior at Westminster Christian School, really can kick. His power and accuracy have brought him great success in two varsity sports — football and soccer.
D’Adesky has been on Westminster’s varsity soccer team each year since the end of eighth grade and this year he is serving as team captain. As a mid-fielder during his junior year, he made third-team All-Dade soccer and was instrumental in helping his team advance to the regional playoffs.
D’Adesky’s strong kicking in soccer led to his being recruited to join the football team as a kicker during his sophomore year. He’s been juggling both sports since.
“There’s about three weeks when the two sports overlap and it’s a bit crazy,” d’Adesky said. “I start out practicing with the football team and then run over to the soccer field to finish practice with the soccer team.”
Westminster football coach Joe Mira, who has coached the Warriors for five years, said, “Dylan’s an excellent student and among the top kickers in Miami-Dade County. He’s been a positive force on our football team.”
It’s his kicking ability in football that d’Adesky hopes will land him a college scholarship. During his junior year, he placed second team All-State and second team All-Dade. His strength is definitely his accuracy.
During the summer, d’Adesky attended five National Kicking Combine Series camps that offer kickers a unique opportunity to train and showcase their talents in front of top-notch college coaches and recruiters. He placed in the top five at Harvard University, second at University of Alabama and University of Miami, tied for first place at Princeton University and took first place at Vanderbilt University.
“I placed well in these camps, which help the recruiting lines open up,” d’Adesky said. “Many college coaches are there standing on the sidelines with clipboards assessing each player’s performance. It’s a lot of pressure, just like kicking is in a game.”
Although a busy sports schedule leaves him with little time, d’Adesky has made time to help the people of Haiti after the devastating earthquake struck in January. His father is Haitian-American and the family has 23 relatives who live there.
“The earthquake was a life-changing event for our family,” d’Adesky said. “For two days after the earthquake, we did not know if our relatives had survived. Luckily, everyone in my family was safe.”
He spearheaded a water drive at Westminster and partnered with Food for the Poor to get relief supplies to Haiti within a week of the earthquake. He volunteered at University of Miami’s Project Medishare over the summer and his family donated six acres of land in Haiti that will be used to build a new Medishare Emergency Trauma/Training Center and Residence Complex in Port-au-Prince.
“I founded a non-profit organization with my three younger siblings and my cousin called Help Haiti Heal,” d’Adesky added. “We raised more than $3,000 and are donating $2,000 to Project Medishare and $1,000 to Food for the Poor. The relief effort in Haiti has been slow. There is still so much work to be done and the people of Haiti need all the help they can get.”
