NFL: Britain’s Efe Obada ‘so scared’ before tackling his mental health issues

Efe Obada is about to grab lunch at the NFL Academy tryouts when he stops in his tracks.

“Hang on a second,” he says, looking over his shoulder to find a teenager standing alone by the practice field.

Obada has remembered that Derry, who travelled almost 90 miles south from Leeds to Loughborough for the tryouts, has two hours to kill before his train home, so asks if he wants to join him.

And he doesn’t stop there. The Washington Commanders defensive end is about to give the NFL hopeful the experience of a lifetime.

After lunch, Derry spends an hour lifting weights with Britain’s biggest NFL star.

“I’ve told everyone,” he says later to BBC Sport. “I’m still buzzing now.”

Obada knows how it feels to be Derry. In his early 20s, he got early morning trains into London, to train in public parks before working as a security guard.

Now he’s completed his “miracle” journey to the NFL, the 30-year-old feels he would be “doing an injustice” not to use his platform to inspire others, particularly British youngsters like Derry.

In an exclusive interview, Obada tells the BBC about his troubled upbringing, his ongoing battle to feel accepted as British and the importance of keeping in touch with his Nigerian roots.