Kicking for the ’Dogs

Norwegian exchange student Klepp tries, and excels, at American football

Inspired by family that has lived in the U.S., 17-year-old Mikkel Klepp from Oslo, Norway, applied to be a foreign exchange student through the program EF High School Exchange and came to the United States.

“I had been here one time before, and I was really fascinated by the place,” he said.

Though there are many other countries he could have gone to, Klepp decided to come to the U.S. He originally planned on applying to go to a southern state but chose last minute for it to be random.

“Kind of the charm of it is just that you are able to get anywhere,” he said.

Although he may have wanted to go somewhere warmer, he is grateful that he was able to come to Lovell and be part of a close community and have a “true American experience” as Klepp would say.

In Norway, he had played competitive soccer since he was 6 years old. His soccer skills transitioned well to football when he came to play as the kicker for the Lovell Bulldogs. Klepp had never played or even watched football before he came to the United States. Though he didn’t have any experience with the sport, he was able to learn the rules quickly and have a successful season as the kicker. He shared that, “Just the adrenaline you get when the wide receiver gets the ball and runs into the end zone is so nice.”

Not only was Klepp an asset to the team on the field, he was also a good teammate off the field.

“Mikkel is very approachable and easy to talk to. He makes it easy to be his friend,” football team captain Davin Crosby said. Co-captain Brody Muller added, “He is always cracking jokes and is so fun to hang out with. His work ethic was great, and he performed outstanding when we needed him.”

Klepp made two out of two field goals that he attempted and 35 of 40 PATs.

So what’s next for Klepp? He says that he plans on doing wrestling for the winter season.

“When I first applied for the exchange, I was very sure in my mind that I wanted to do wrestling, because it’s something I probably wouldn’t get to do in Norway,” he said.

Before his school year in the United States is over, Klepp will play soccer for the Powell Panthers in the spring.