Players hoping for a spot on the college’s club teams
sign in at tryouts, and receive their numbers.
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Men’s coach Ernst “Nono” Jean-Baptiste gives directions
to the players as the groups switch. |
In a quiet corner of the sea of feet, faces and soccer balls at the first day of club soccer tryouts at the A. Hugh Adams Central Campus on October 1, Zahraa Ali played her position in a scrimmage game with a smile, savoring her moments on the field with the ball at her feet.
After a year of radical change, Ali said she felt her life had finally come full circle.
A little over a year ago, she lived in Iraq and played on elite regional-level indoor and outdoor soccer teams in Baghdad. Then she and her parents pulled up stakes for the United States. The move, she said, was difficult in many ways.
“Learning the language was the hardest thing,” she said. She motions with her pointer finger from left to right, the direction the English language is read. “Learning that was very difficult. It is still difficult for me.”
Arabic, her native language, reads from right to left.
Ali enrolled in Western High School upon arrival in Broward County and graduated in 2009. She is now a freshman at Broward College, hoping to pursue a career in medicine. In her year of transition, soccer temporarily got pushed to the side. Now, she said, she hopes it has returned to her life.
Ali, a midfielder, was one of 19 women taking part in the first tryout session for the college’s men’s and women’s club soccer teams; 120 men took part in the first day’s session. Two other sessions are scheduled, with similar numbers of players signed up to participate.
For Ali, the chance to compete for a spot on the team is both a surprise and a blessing.
“When I got here, I asked if they had soccer teams, and I was told no, but then I saw a story on the website that they were going to start, and that made me very happy,” she said.
Ali signed up for tryouts as quickly as she learned about them, and several days before practice, she visited the outfield of the baseball field, to get the feel of the turf. The soft, well-manicured field, she said, was a delight to play on.
“In Iraq, males had the better advantage of fields to play on, so I play sort of a street-type game,” she said. “I even broke some nails tonight.”
Coaches Patti Barney and Ernst “Nono” Jean-Baptiste said they were impressed with the level of talent the players brought to tryouts. Jean-Baptiste urged the men to play with more finesse and less aggressiveness.
“Remember,” he said, “Soccer is a most beautiful game.”
After the tryout sessions, the coaches will begin cuts until each squad is trimmed to 18 members. The teams will practice until the start of the season in late January or early February 2010. Both teams will play in leagues at Brian Piccolo Park in Cooper City.
L-R: Antonia Armstrong and Broward College President
David Armstrong, center, chat with Neil Cohen,
associate vice president for student development
services, as they watch the players at the first tryout. | 
Zahraa Ali, far left, listens as Coach Patti Barney
gives directions at tryouts.
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