By By Chandler Myers
The phrase “a whole new world” has taken on a whole different meaning for Escambia County High School’s new place kicker for the Blue Devil football team.
Nikola (Nik) Radojicic is a native of Belgrade, Serbia and landed in Atmore through a foreign exchange student program.
Radojicic said he entered the exchange program so he could experience a different culture.
Not only has Radojicic learned to fit in with the American culture, he is learning how to play American football.
The sport is new to Radojicic whose favorite sports are basketball and soccer.
Getting him to play football took a lot of persuasion; according to Blue Devils special teams coach John Saxon.
Saxon said that it took him awhile to convince Radojicic to come out for the football team.
Radojicic has had to learn a lot about football in the past few weeks, as he did know any of the rules of the game.
He said he has learned those rules by watching football games on TV.
Radojicic added that he likes football and is enjoying his time on the team.
While learning the rules, Radojicic is also learning how to kick a football. He is learning this because it is different than kicking a soccer ball, according to Saxon.
Saxon said that he has been coaching for more than 40 years and is an expert on developing kickers.
He added that the process of developing a kicker is not short and you have to teach them several things.
Radojicic is working everyday with Saxon and said Radojicic needs work in all areas and will have to improve his leg strength over time.
He added the upside to working with Radojicic is the work he puts into his practices.
He does have the distance in his leg though as Saxon said he knows exactly where the “sweet spot’ of the ball is.
In his first game, Nik made and extra point and missed a 52-yard field goal to the left in last week’s game against Spanish Fort, but in practices has hit a 53-yard field goal and hit the goal post at 60-yards.
Radojicic said he loves being a part of the game itself.