Hasan Mayyahi is smiling again, because soccer is part of his life again.
The Fort Vancouver boys soccer team is Mayyahi’s first organized team since he left his home country of Iraq at age 11. Mayyahi, now 18, went six years without soccer and no education while living in Turkey. He came to Vancouver with his parents and three siblings in 2015.
The high school junior recently got a permanent reminder of what the game means to him. His left forearm is tattooed with a heart, a heartbeat line, and a soccer ball connected as one. An inscription reads, “Soccer is Life.”
“I’m so happy here,” Mayyahi said during Tuesday’s team practice at Kiggins Bowl. “At practice, at games … I feel so much better.”
This is Fort Vancouver boys soccer, a program represented by 16 nations united as one. Nine of the program’s 44 players spanning varsity and junior-varsity are classified as refugees.
Mayyahi is one of them.
He learned English in one year and joining Fort’s soccer team last spring aided his fluency. He’s now learning a fourth language — Spanish, in addition to speaking fluent Arabic, Turkish and English — and playing for the Trappers is enhancing his Spanish-speaking skills and Latin America cultural knowledge.
“I speak with everybody,” Mayyahi said. “I love it here.”
The players are a reflection of Fort’s diverse student body. More than 30 languages are spoken at Fort, said John Schultz, the school’s associate principal and athletic director. Native languages spoken range from Arabic to Vietnamese, Romanian to Russian.
Same goes for the pitch. The five Iraq-born players is the team’s second-highest ethnic group behind those from Mexico and other Latin American countries.
Head coach Sanjay Prasad is Indo-American, and also speaks Hindi. Growing up on the southern Oregon coast, he attended high school with fewer than 10 minorities.
Soccer wasn’t a global game at his high school, but it is at Fort. He describes his team’s style as an international flavor: everything from Latin American flare to the crisp passing of European.
“Regardless of religion or language or background or country, it all stays the same,” Prasad said, “(Soccer is) what hooks us together. And the love of the game.”
Junior striker Pablo Alvarado moved back to Vancouver from Mexico at age 5, and said playing for the Trappers had made him value how other cultures play the sport. That, in turn, elevated his game, he said.
“I know if I went to another school,” Alvarado said, “I wouldn’t get to experience this type of play.”
Practices are run in English. Game days, miscommunication can happen. Some coaches have an English-only rule on the field, but Prasad doesn’t. He lets players speak their native language, just as long as communication is present.
Sometimes, hand gestures are needed to the few still learning English.
It’s all universal for speaking soccer.
“Even if they know nothing about the other’s language,” assistant coach Glenn Humphreys said, “they find a way.”
Humphreys teaches in the school’s English Language Learners (ELL) department, and he was the Trappers’ varsity coach for four seasons in the early 2000s. His 2004 Fort team had as many as 18 nations represented.
For Prasad and his staff, they’re more than a coach label. Some Fort players don’t have a male figure in their life, and Prasad holds players accountable for everything from attitude to tardiness.
The Trappers embrace their uniqueness in language barriers and different styles of play.
And they make it work through chemistry, said captain Cristian Ruiz, a Mexican-American.
Just this week, the senior incorporated a warm-up drill in which players form a large circle holding hands while three players work to defend the soccer ball inside the circle.
Or, just before they take the field for practice or a game, they share one positive attribute about each other.
It’s all a reflection of team bonding and understanding.
“In my opinion,” Ruiz said, “chemistry is one of the biggest things in teamwork. Chemistry, communication and being good teammates to each other. That makes a great team anyday.”
All-league goalkeeper Leviu Croitor moved here from Moldova eight years ago and is one of nine seniors. He put the diversity in this perspective:
“Looking around the world and seeing so many problems,” he said, “… but then, you see that you can be together.
“It’s really fun.”
2017 PREP BOYS SOCCER STORYLINES
Is the 2A GSHL up for grabs?
Toss a coin: That’s how 2A GSHL coaches feel about a projected league champion. Ridgefield? R.A. Long? Newcomer Columbia River? The Spudders and Lumberjacks reached the 2A state playoffs last season after facing each other in the district title game. The Lumberjacks already have scored 20 goals in seven games while Ridgefield’s defense has allowed only four goals in as many games against 4A and 3A competition. In Wednesday’s league opener, the Chieftains rallied down two goals to force overtime and topped Woodland in a shootout.
New champ for 3A GSHL
The door is open for a new team to be crowned with reigning league champion and 3A state quarterfinalist Columbia River departing to 2A. League newcomers Mountain View and Evergreen will boost the competitive flavor. The Plainsmen, with 21st-year coach Keenan Burris, feature four 4-year varsity players off last year’s squad that lost in overtime to 4A GSHL co-champion Union for the district’s second seed to playoffs.
Lots of returning All-Region talent
Camas’ Toby Pizot and Max Bilsborough lead a veteran club seeking a repeat district title. … Heritage’s Kyle Hood (Warner Pacific signee) anchors a defense that’s allowed two goals through six games. … Union goalkeeper Brandon Wolter posted 10 shutouts as a junior last spring. … Evergreen’s Killian Burris is one of the area’s top returning midfielders. … Columbia River’s Ryan Connop is a returning all-3A GSHL first-team forward.
Did you know?
Heritage already is two victories away from equalling its 2016 win total (seven). The Timberwolves are off to a 5-0-1 start and have outscored opponents 13-2.
