Temilade Adekoya is a junior pre-med neuroscience major and volleyball player at University of Chicago. She is an executive board member of the University of Chicago Student National Medical Association — Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students (SNMA-MAPS) and is a member of the school’s Black Letterwinning Athlete Coalition (BLAC), which was founded in June 2020.

Temilade Adekoya is a junior pre-med neuroscience major and volleyball player at University of Chicago. She is an executive board member of the University of Chicago Student National Medical Association — Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students (SNMA-MAPS) and is a member of the school’s Black Letterwinning Athlete Coalition (BLAC), which was founded in June 2020.

Club and High School Volleyball

Growing up in the south suburbs of Chicago, Adekoya began playing volleyball in the fourth grade. “At some point during sixth grade, I was showing some potential and a referee told my mother I was really good and asked if I had thought about playing club volleyball,” she recalled. “I joined a club and was one of two black people on my team, the other being my best friend who is also nicknamed Temi. We felt like we didn’t fit in. Coming from diverse elementary to junior high schools, this predominantly white volleyball team was flipped from our regular experiences. We stood apart from the other girls and it was hard to make friends. They went to the same school, they lived in the same towns, and they were already friends. It was kind of uncomfortable, especially when the girls were looking at my hair when I had braids.”

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