Sweden-born Vincent Thofte joins Shelbyville football team, exchange student becomes starting kicker
SHELBYVILLE (WCIA) – Vincent Thofte has been playing football for as long as he can remember, just not our type of football. Before moving to the United States from Stockholm, Sweden this summer, the exchange student did not know much about American football other than some NFL names.
“(Patrick) Mahomes is quite big and of course Tom Brady is probably one of the biggest names in American football,” said Thofte. “I knew some players but not all.”
Now just two months into his year-long stay in the United States, Thofte Shelbyville is the starting kicker.
“I did not expect to join the team,” he said. “I expected them to have a kicker but they did not even have a kicker. I was like, ‘Oh good. I guess I’m jumping in and trying my best.
“We kind of did a whole test of everyone on the team,” said Shelbyville coach Bill Duckett. “We just asked him if he wanted to kick and he said, ‘Sure. And he came out and surprised us a little. ”
Thofte has more than deserved his place, missing only one field goal in five games. The 17-year-old’s football background helps him in more ways than one.
“I probably learned to kick with both feet at the age of 7,” said Thofte.
“He said, ‘I can not kick with my right leg today,'” Duckett said. “I said, ‘Okay.’ Then he said, ‘I can kick with my left leg! kicks 40 yards field goal with left leg. ”
Thofte began his stay abroad in Mount Carmel before moving to Shelbyville the first week of the high school season. He now lives with defensive coordinator Brad Hilbert and his wife.
“He needed a place to live and we had space and time,” Hilbert said. “I do not know what experience we will be able to give him but I think he enjoys it and has fun.”
“He watches college football and the NFL and all that,” said Thofte. I’ll be down there in the living room watching football with him and trying to learn more about the game and asking him, ‘Oh what happened there’ and ‘What happened now? “I have learned more than I actually expected. ”
Ironically, the Shelbyville Meridian hit a game-winning field goal last year. And if Friday’s football fever Spotlight game of the week ends again, the beetles feel they have the right guy for the job.