Husker Profile: The Pick-Up Soccer Ecosystem
Peyton Thomas
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02/13/2022
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NBS National Student Electronic Media Competition
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- [00:00:00.349](gentle music)
- [00:00:06.730]There may be no greater uniting force,
- [00:00:09.350]than the world's game.
- [00:00:11.420]Soccer has shown a unique ability to bring together people
- [00:00:14.400]of all backgrounds, socioeconomic levels,
- [00:00:17.140]religions, languages, the list goes on.
- [00:00:20.930]Today, we take a deep dive
- [00:00:22.740]into how the sports unifying quality
- [00:00:25.170]is present around the campus
- [00:00:26.680]at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
- [00:00:28.910]Welcome to this Husker profile.
- [00:00:30.940]I'm Peyton Thomas.
- [00:00:33.030](upbeat music)
- [00:00:37.810]My name is Faisal Alamani.
- [00:00:39.360]I'm from Oman.
- [00:00:40.980]My name is Zacharia. I'm from Oman.
- [00:00:43.930]My name is Morrison, and I'm from Oman.
- [00:00:46.570]I'm Ossan Alvarani, and I'm from Oman.
- [00:00:49.030]Just go by Aziz, and I'm from Oman.
- [00:00:52.120]If you know where to look
- [00:00:53.540]the sights and sounds of the game are present.
- [00:00:56.880]This atmosphere becomes a backdrop
- [00:00:59.350]of many college experiences
- [00:01:01.140]for students who spend their free time here.
- [00:01:03.950]To these international students specifically,
- [00:01:06.660]this outlet to play a game
- [00:01:08.630]is all but second nature.
- [00:01:11.420]We, we used to play
- [00:01:13.691]since we were like little kids,
- [00:01:16.520]like five, six years old.
- [00:01:18.770]If I don't play soccer, I might,
- [00:01:20.293]honestly, I'll go crazy.
- [00:01:22.960]It is in our genetics I would say.
- [00:01:26.210]And this ritual
- [00:01:27.490]can develop almost a spiritual nature.
- [00:01:30.200]For example, us Muslims, like you know how the way,
- [00:01:32.390]for example, we pray five times a day?
- [00:01:34.420]Soccer is almost the same thing.
- [00:01:36.220]Any personal issues and literally,
- [00:01:37.960]everything is behind our backs when we play soccer.
- [00:01:41.090]It's just to compete and to have fun with each other.
- [00:01:44.220]With that passion,
- [00:01:45.430]these like-minded individuals quickly make connections
- [00:01:48.270]through those similarities,
- [00:01:49.760]and create an ecosystem on campus.
- [00:01:52.870]If you ask them to play
- [00:01:54.150]they'll like welcome you with open arms.
- [00:01:56.210]They don't discriminate or anything like that.
- [00:01:58.640]It's very healthy.
- [00:01:59.473]If anyone gets hurt, everyone stops, takes care of them.
- [00:02:02.410]It's a pretty good community to be honest.
- [00:02:04.310]Pick up games are ongoing,
- [00:02:06.110]and there's no barrier to entry.
- [00:02:08.320]The students I spoke with
- [00:02:09.630]say they get new players all the time,
- [00:02:11.520]and that each game can bring a new group of people.
- [00:02:14.443]Literally everybody's welcomed right now.
- [00:02:16.350]As you see right now,
- [00:02:17.183]there's like other Oman students right now
- [00:02:18.720]that's playing with somebody else.
- [00:02:20.530]Within this large soccer ecosystem,
- [00:02:22.990]you find differing subgroups often broken up along skill,
- [00:02:26.550]or what time of day you play.
- [00:02:28.810]Most of the students I spoke with
- [00:02:30.700]enjoy playing together because they're all from Oman.
- [00:02:33.550]There's some Omanis here.
- [00:02:34.720]We used to play for professional soccer clubs back home,
- [00:02:37.290]but we have to leave, you know, everything back here,
- [00:02:40.490]back there for here for school,
- [00:02:41.930]because we're sponsored by scholarship.
- [00:02:43.930]There's new Omanis coming here to Lincoln every year.
- [00:02:46.460]And we depend on that in order to have like,
- [00:02:50.080]all the Oman players to play with us.
- [00:02:52.849](smooth guitar music)
- [00:02:56.071](players communicating)
- [00:03:04.940]How competitive do the games usually get?
- [00:03:07.500]They get, they get too competitive sometimes.
- [00:03:11.650]I'm telling you, yeah.
- [00:03:13.020]No, nobody wants to lose.
- [00:03:14.520]If we play like in a competition, it gets so competitive.
- [00:03:19.131]With a mix between these highly skilled players,
- [00:03:21.985]and the level of passion that they have for the game,
- [00:03:25.009]it didn't come as a surprise to me
- [00:03:27.530]that these students spoke about a competitive environment.
- [00:03:30.250]But, fitting in nicely alongside
- [00:03:32.490]the everyone is welcome atmosphere.
- [00:03:34.840]There's a clear limit where the person behind the player
- [00:03:37.770]takes center stage.
- [00:03:39.170]The more competitive, the more fun it is
- [00:03:40.910]but we always strive to, like safety first,
- [00:03:43.911]in their sportsmanship.
- [00:03:45.250]There comes a time for each game to end.
- [00:03:47.490]The facilities close,
- [00:03:49.030]the players get tired,
- [00:03:50.550]the time limit has been reached,
- [00:03:52.520]but there are many intangibles
- [00:03:54.210]that these students get to take far beyond the finalism.
- [00:03:58.186](upbeat music)
- [00:03:59.519]Like, I, I met people that I thought I'd never meet.
- [00:04:01.610]And like, they're introducing me to other people.
- [00:04:03.560]So, new friends, new experiences.
- [00:04:05.275]I met people here that I'm hanging out outside.
- [00:04:07.650]So, it just brings everyone together.
- [00:04:09.450]So if I, I don't, if I didn't have soccer,
- [00:04:11.210]I don't know what I'd do, to be honest.
- [00:04:12.530]Especially here in U N L.
- [00:04:14.534](smooth piano music)
- [00:04:16.190]Thanks for listening to this Husker profile,
- [00:04:18.970]on soccer's global power team
- [00:04:21.057]right here on the University of Nebraska Lincoln campus.
- [00:04:24.670]I'm Peyton Thomas,
- [00:04:25.850]and I hope to see you next time.
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