Luis Rendon (born November 27, 1993) is a

Colombian-American Colombian Americans ( or ), are Americans who have Colombian ancestry. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of full or partial Colombian descent or to someone who has immigrated to the United States from Colombia. Colombian ...

soccer player who last played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

for

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. Rendon is best known for winning the Gatorade Boys' Soccer Player of the Year award in 2011, a national award given to the best high school soccer player in the United States. Rendon was inducted into the Virginia-DC Soccer Hall of Fame in 2020. Upon finishing high school, Rendon played four years of collegiate soccer with Duke University. Additionally, Rendon played in the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...

for RVA FC, prior to the club relocating to Fredericksburg.

Career

Youth and college

Born in

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of the Atlántico department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean region of Colombia, Caribbean coast region; as of 2018, it had a popul ...

, Rendon moved to

Midlothian, Virginia Midlothian ( ) is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated area and census-designated place in Chesterfield County, Virginia, U.S. Settled as a coal town, Midlothian village experienced suburbanization effects and is now part of t ...

(a suburb of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

), when he was a child. Growing up, Rendon played youth soccer for FC Richmond, and high school soccer for

Cosby High School Cosby High School is a public high school in Midlothian, Virginia, United States. Cosby opened in 2006 and is the newest of eleven high schools administered by Chesterfield County Public Schools. The school serves over 2,300 students. History C ...

. A standout player, Rendon helped Cosby reach the state championship in 2011. On May 19, 2011, Rendon won the Gatorade National Player of the Year Award. Rendon was the first player from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

to win the award. Ahead of the

2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2011 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 53rd year of organized men's College soccer in the United States, college soccer in the United States. The season was divided into three parts; the regular season, which started with early seas ...

, Rendon committed to playing college soccer for

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

, choosing Duke over Virginia, VCU, William & Mary, and Wake Forest.

Senior

International

Luis Rendon was part of the United States under-18 men's national team program through high school.

Personal life

A Richmond, Virginia native and former player of FC Richmond, Rendon has been said to be an influence to several future professional soccer players in the region, such as Nick Taitague, who currently plays for

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

. Upon graduating from Duke, Rendon retired from competitive soccer, and worked at Teamworks in the

Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Anchored by the cities of Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh an ...

, before relocating to the

Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas and the Southern United States, ...

. He made 49 appearances for Duke, scoring three goals.

Awards

* RTD All-Metro Boys' Soccer Player of the Year: 2011 * Gatorade High School Soccer Player of the Year Award: 2011 * FC Richmond Hall of Fame: 2012

References

External links

Luis Rendon
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rendon, Luis 1993 births Living people 21st-century American businesspeople American sportspeople of Colombian descent American men's soccer players Men's association football midfielders Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombian expatriates in the United States Colombian men's footballers Duke Blue Devils men's soccer players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States People from Midlothian, Virginia Fredericksburg FC players Soccer players from Virginia Footballers from Barranquilla 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century Colombian sportsmen