Hardworking.

Patient.

Confident.

These are the three key aspects that senior Mina Besada said are needed to be named to the All-Orange County First Team for soccer. 

“I was really proud of myself, and I think I showed all the main assets this season to get named that title,” Besada said. 

As a young boy in Egypt, Besada dreamed of one day playing in the English Premier League, the greatest soccer league in the world. 

He carried his dream with him to the Sunny Hills varsity soccer team in August 2023, when his family moved to the U.S. from Egypt when he was a 15-year-old sophomore.  

Ending the season with 24 goals and nine assists and placing second in the Crestview league, the senior said he thinks he achieved a lot this year, taking steps towards his dream. 

“I’m so proud of my record, and I never expected I would do that well in Sunny Hills, but I just believed in myself working hard, and that’s it,” he said. 

He said he was especially motivated by his parents, who also moved from Egypt with him.

“If I think that my parents came here just for me, it just makes me want to work harder for them,” he said. 

The striker said he focused on scoring goals the most and having more frequent practices.

“Because I’m a striker, and I need to help my team to score goals and win games,” he said. “This year, I practiced more with Sunny Hills, as I used to do alone practices, too.”

Following his achievements, he said he hopes to improve on his defensive side.

“I’m very good on the attacking side, but I think on the defensive side, I could be better,” the senior said. “Overall, this season, we didn’t achieve what we wanted, which was winning the league, but we did really well over the season, and we were able to be Division 1, and hopefully next year’s team could be able to win the league and win CIA.”

The striker said he plans on training more with his peers.

“I think a way to be good at defending as a striker is to train with some of your friends and always have someone train you on that, especially your defense friends, because they could tell you tricks,” he said. “I’ll be training a lot with my friends over the summer.”

WONDERKID 

Living in Egypt, the senior said he started playing soccer in a club when he was 4 years old.

“My dad is the one who put me in soccer, and since then, I never left,” he said. 

He said he fell in love with it the first time he tried to play it. 

“I think it’s a very competitive sport, and that’s what I love most about soccer,” Besada said. “I liked making friends out of soccer, being able to perform well, being able to score goals as a striker, to dribble, pass and win games.”

Since the beginning, Besada said he knew he was a talented player and got even better later.

“When I was about 10 years old, I used to play with my dad and his friends, and I realized I’m good at soccer, as I won over them,” he said. 

ACROSS THE CONTINENT

Besada said that, though he practices consistently daily, the intensity of the practice has changed.

“The practice is longer than when I was young, and the field is longer as I play as a more competitive player,” he said. “I think more space as a winger is actually better, because if you get more space in the field, you get more space to dribble and to score goals.”

As the practice got more intense, Besada said, although it’s hard to balance academics and sports, he likes the challenge.

“It’s actually enjoyable,” he said. “Getting on my cleats and plates after 5th period is one of the best experiences in my life.”

He said he enjoyed playing soccer as a hobby when he was younger, but took it more seriously when he came to the U.S. 

“Playing in high school, the competitiveness of it made me feel like I want to play professionally in this field,” Besada said. “I want to go to play in college and maybe after college I could play on some team or something.”

He said he came to the US for more opportunities. 

“It’s a really slight chance in Egypt to make something in soccer, whereas in the US, you have a lot of paths because you have college after high school, and you are able to play in community college and then transfer to a D1,” he said. 

While he said he came to Sunny Hills because it was the closest to his new house, he found out about the soccer team through his friends. 

“Some of my friends in my classes, I was talking about them with soccer, and they said that I should try out with the team,” he said. “I tried out, and I made it to the varsity team.” 

Head coach Jordan Brinkley said that he was first introduced to Besada by the PE teacher John Wooldridge, and Besada later came out for the tryout. 

“He was actually pretty good and did a lot of things well,” Brinkley said. “We were doing small-sided games right out here, and he scored some good goals, and you just tell he’s a good soccer player, and that was his sophomore year.” 

Transitioning from soccer in Egypt to the US, the senior said, the style of play is different. 

“In Egypt, it’s more physical than it is here, but it’s more technical here, and I think it’s really nice here, he said. “In Egypt, it would be really tense, where it would be like a football game, where sometimes the ball is not always on the ground, and there would be a lot of fighting.” 

Despite the contrasts, he said making friends helped him adapt to cultural differences. 

“They helped me get along with the team to help me know what the coach is like,” he said. “They also help me with studies, too.” 

GOING FORWARD

Besada said he plans on continuing his journey in soccer by attending Fullerton Community College [FCC], majoring in the medical field. 

“I also want to put studies aside from playing soccer because maybe if I didn’t continue playing soccer, I’d be able to study something, but my main goal is to become a soccer player,” he said. 

Brinkley said he hopes for the best for Besada.

“I just wish him the best of luck,” he said. “He is a great kid, and even if he doesn’t follow soccer, I think he’s going to go on to do great things.”

He said that his long-term goal is to play in England in the Premier League, and his short-term goal is to make the starting lineup for FCC. To prepare, the senior said he will spend his summer training hard.

“I’m going to train myself a lot over the summer for two months until the season starts in August,” he said. “I’m always able to train myself, and some of my friends always come with me, too.”