Sports
Bernard Kamungo a shining example of what a kid from a refugee camp can accomplish
The global refugee population topped 16.1 million in 2015, the highest number in more than two decades and larger than the populations of 120 countries, according to the United Nations.
One of those refugees was a skinny boy named Bernard Kamungo, who, for the first 14 years of his life, knew of nothing outside the teeming camp in western Tanzania where he was born to displaced Congolese parents fleeing decades of war in their homeland.
Then a lifeline appeared. His family was approved for resettlement in the U.S. and less than a decade after escaping the camp for a home in Abilene, Texas, Kamungo hasn’t just grown into a man, he has become one of the best soccer players in his adopted country. Not only has the FC Dallas midfielder played for the U.S. national team, but he has hopes of suiting up in the Olympic Games this summer.
“That was a dream, man, I won’t lie to you,” Kamungo said of the day his family left the camp. “Being able to get out of a refugee camp and come to the U.S. is something that I wanted for so long. So when I heard of us coming to the U.S., it was unbelievable. It’s a good feeling I’ll take with me my whole life.”
But that was just the first step on a long and arduous journey. When Kamungo arrived in Abilene, a place he had not previously heard of, he spoke Swahili and French but no English. Soccer, one of the few things he brought with him from the camp, proved to be the icebreaker.
“Growing up, the only thing I had in front of me was a soccer ball,” Kamungo remembers.
In the Nyarugusu camp — with more than 150,000 people, one of the largest refugee resettlements in the world — the term soccer ball was more a concept than a reality since the ones Kamungo used were often made from wadded up bags or cloth wrapped around inflated condoms and medical gloves.
Yet that was good enough to provide a temporary break from the monotony of life there.
“There wasn’t much to do,” he said. “As soon as I started walking, I just loved the game, loved kicking a ball. At the same time, it was a way for me to get away from a lot of a lot of stuff, just kind of connect and keep my head together.
“It never crossed my mind that if I played these games, it might come and help me in the long term.”
In Nyarugusu, Kamungo and his family of eight shared a room in a shack with no electricity or plumbing. Food was always scarce, the dirt spaces between the camp’s endless rows of shacks served as a playground, and planning for the future meant thinking no further ahead than tomorrow.
“Not a lot of stuff to remember,” he said. “Every single day I’d wake up and do the same thing over and over.”
FC Dallas forward Bernard Kamungo moves the ball during a match against the Seattle Sounders in October.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
Kamungo isn’t the first soccer standout, or even the first potential Olympian, to emerge from the monotony, squalor and desperation of a refugee camp. Alphonso Davies, a Champions League winner with Bayern Munich and a World Cup starter for Canada, was born in a camp in Ghana, then emigrated to Edmonton with his family when he was 5. And distance runners Lopez Lomong, Abdihakim Abdirahman and Charles Jock are camp survivors who represented the U.S. in the Olympics or World Athletics Championships.
Their success doesn’t surprise Sara-Christine Dallain, the executive director of iACT, a Southern California-based humanitarian nonprofit that has used soccer to teach teamwork, respect, responsibility and pride to more than 43,000 children in refugee camps around the world.
“There’s so much potential,” she said. “Just because children or families have been forced to flee their homes because of war and conflict doesn’t mean that they do not have their own dreams and aspirations. In fact, these children are so motivated to dream beyond the confines of their camp and to dream [of] a life beyond war and conflict in refugee camps.
“Soccer creates an opportunity for children to work towards achieving that dream.”
Living in a camp, Dallain said, also provides a harsh sense of perspective because nothing those children will face on a playing field or a track will be tougher than what they faced as refugees.
“People who are living in a refugee camp are resilient, right? They have to every day make decisions and determine and figure out how to survive,” she said. “That strength, the mental toughness to survive and to rebuild your life is there and probably translates over to someone who’s becoming an athlete.”
Once he arrived in Abilene, Kamungo’s skills quickly earned him a spot on his middle and high school soccer teams, where he was the district’s offensive MVP and midfielder of the year. On the weekends he competed in adult pickup games.
Then he nearly tripped over the next step up the soccer ladder.
Simply trying out for an elite club team in central Texas costs as much as $500, a fortune for a refugee family struggling to build a new life in a new land. Eventually Kamungo’s brother Imani found an open tryout with the developmental team for MLS club FC Dallas. Kamungo impressed enough to be invited back for additional auditions and in March 2021, just weeks before the end of his senior year, he signed a professional contract.
FC Dallas forward Bernard Kamungo controls the ball during a match against CF Montreal in March.
(LM Otero / Associated Press)
A year later, he led North Texas SC, Dallas’ MLS Next Pro affiliate, with 16 goals, earning his MLS debut — and a new four-year contract — that summer.
Nine months later, he was back in Africa, called up to the Tanzanian national team for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with Niger. He didn’t play, though, clearing the way for the newly minted U.S. citizen to join the U.S. U-23 team for a pair of friendlies last October. He notched assists in both games and in January he started for the senior national team against Slovenia in San Antonio, 250 miles from his parents’ home in Abilene.
“This is like, every child’s dream,” he said. “If you become a professional soccer player, you always want to represent your country. So for me to be able to do that was a big honor.”
Yet the Olympic part of that dream might be receding. Kamungo has started only twice for FC Dallas since the middle of March and was left off the roster for the Olympic team’s June training camp, the final one before the roster for Paris will be chosen.
The fact he was even in the conversation and not in a refugee camp is reason enough to celebrate.
“I’m thankful to get that chance,” Kamungo said. “I’m just happy for every second.”
⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.
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Russell Wilson and Sean Payton spent just one NFL season together, but tension lingered after a rocky year.
And it appears the tension that built up from that tumultuous stretch continues to linger.
Wilson’s interview on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast, recorded before last month’s Super Bowl between Seattle and New England, recently resurfaced.
In the interview, Wilson doubled down on his October comment labeling Payton “classless,” saying he felt slighted by his former coach’s remarks.
Head coach Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos talks to quarterback Russell Wilson on the sideline during an NFL preseason football game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium Aug. 11, 2023, in Glendale, Ariz. (Ryan Kang/Getty Images)
“[When] you’ve been on the same side or this and that, and I got the same amount of rings as you got, meaning Sean, right?” said Wilson, who won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks as Payton did coaching for the New Orleans Saints.
“I got a lot of respect for him as a play-caller, this and that, but to take a shot, I don’t like. I don’t think it’s necessary, you know, I mean, especially when I’m not even on your own team anymore. So, for me, there’s a point in time where you have to, I’ve realized, I’ve stayed quiet for so long. There’s a there’s a time and place where I’m not.
“I know who I am as a competitor, as a warrior, as a champion, too, and, you know, I’ve beaten Sean, too. You know, like we’ve been on the same place and the same thing. And so, it’s not a matter of disrespect. Just don’t disrespect me.”
Sean Payton and Russell Wilson of the Denver Broncos during an a game against the Minnesota Vikings at Empower Field at Mile High Nov. 19, 2023, in Denver, Colo. (Ryan Kang/Getty Images)
After a rocky one-year stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024, Wilson joined the New York Giants last offseason. However, he was relegated to a backup role after just three games.
Rookie Jaxson Dart quickly showed promise once he had the chance to start, but his season was briefly derailed by injury. Jameis Winston — not Wilson — stepped in for Dart in a handful of games. Dart threw three touchdowns in a Week 7 matchup with the Broncos, nearly pulling off an upset in what was eventually a close loss.
After the game, Payton said Dart provided a “spark” to the Giants’ offense.
“I was talking to [Giants owner] John Mara not too long ago, and I said, ‘We were hoping that that change would have happened long after our game,’” Payton said.
The New York Giants’ Russell Wilson attempts to escape a sack by Dallas Cowboys defensive end James Houston (53) in the first half of a game Sept. 14, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Payton also said the Broncos would have faced less of a challenge had Wilson been under center.
“Classless … but not surprised,” Wilson responded in a social media post. “Didn’t realize you’re still bounty hunting 15+ years later though the media.”
Despite last season’s struggles and chatter about his football future, Wilson does not appear ready to call it quits in 2026.
“I wanna play a few more years for sure,” he said. “I think, for me, I’ve always had the vision of getting to 40, at least. I think the game is different. Quarterbacks, we get hit. It’s not, you know, we get hit hard, but … there’s certain rules. I mean, back in the day when I started, bro, it was you just get [clobbered].
“I mean, so I feel like the game allows you to, you know, live a little longer, I guess. I feel healthy. I feel great. But I think, more than anything else is, do you love the game? Do you love studying? Do you love the passion for it all? Do you love the process? Do you love the practice? Do you love — everybody loves the winning part of it, but it’s process. There’s a journey that you got to be obsessed with. And that part I’m obsessed with.”
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The early rounds of the BNP Paribas Open began Wednesday, with top seeds slated to start play Friday during the 12-day ATP and WTPA Master 1000 tournament.
A busy stretch of the tennis season reaches another gear at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the second largest outdoor tennis stadium in the world.
While many consider it the “fifth Grand Slam” because of its elite player field, amenities and equal prize money for men and women, professionals acknowledge the tournament is part of a stressful stretch on the tennis calendar.
Indian Wells is followed by the Miami Open, another two-week Master 1000 tournament. The tour stops are known as the “Sunshine Double.”
Some players made the short trip from Indian Wells to Las Vegas this past weekend to participate in the MGM Grand Slam, an exhibition designed to help players ramp up for back-to-back tournaments.
American Reilly Opelka, a 6-foot–11 pro, said managing fatigue after a series of tournaments before hitting Indian Wells has altered his practice and play in exhibition matches, including a loss to 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca in Las Vegas.
“Normally in any kind of competition, you get excited and play with a pressure point … but you don’t feel this when you are practicing,” Opelka said.
“I was trying to feel like this a few days ago while practicing with … [Tommy Paul,] but instead we got tired and hungry. … That usually doesn’t happen. We just decided to stop and go to eat somewhere.”
Paul said despite the decision to cut practice short, he feels fresh for the upcoming events.
“I started the year pretty well and for Americans, we are excited for the Sunshine Double,” Paul said.
Casper Rudd lost to Opelka during the first round of the Las Vegas exhibition. The Norwegian also lost a week ago during the first round of the Acapulco Open, falling to Chinese qualifier Yibing Wu in straight sets.
Rudd said he felt “extremely tired” after the Australian Open in January.
Rancho Palo Verdes resident Taylor Fritz, ranked No. 7 in the world, said the best way to prepare yourself for grueling tour schedule is “putting [in] the time, work and repetition.”
“… Be there, be focused on the quality that you are doing,” said Fritz, a 28-year-old who won the Indian Wells title in 2022.
While some players are guarding against burnout, others struggled to even reach California. Some players who live in Dubai, including Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, have to contend with closed airspace triggered by the U.S. and Israel bombing Iran.
The ATP announced Wednesday that, “the vast majority of players who were in Dubai have successfully departed today on selected flights.”
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
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A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
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SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
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