For 17-year-old Ziyana Samanani, the toughest part of living on her own so she can play soccer in Port Moody and Coquitlam isn’t shopping for groceries and cooking for herself, or managing her time, or resisting the temptation to party. It’s the silence.
Samanani grew up in Calgary in an extended family of eight that included one set of her grandparents. Their home was lively, chaotic, and rarely quiet.
But after Samanani’s local club team folded two years ago, her father, Salim, suggested if she wanted to be serious about her goal to land a university soccer scholarship, she’d have to head to the west coast where the season is longer and high performance programs have a history of producing international superstars like Burnaby’s Christine Sinclair.
It’s not easy sending a 15-year-old girl more than two mountain ranges away. But Samanani said she’s always been responsible and independent. Plus she had another set of grandparents in Burnaby who could help get her settled.
So with tryouts scheduled for three top soccer clubs in the Lower Mainland, Samanani left Calgary. The lanky centre back quickly landed a spot on Coquitlam Metro-Ford Storm’s premier league team, secured an apartment in Port Moody and enrolled in the International Baccalaureate programme at Port Moody secondary school. This year she’s also led the revival of the school’s senior girls soccer team after a year’s hiatus. and several years competing in the Burnaby/New Westminster league.
Samanani said between homework to maintain her status as a top student, nightly training with her club team, plus her commitment to her high school squad, she doesn’t have the time to take advantage of her independence even if she was tempted. Although she has managed to eke out a few spare moments here and there as the project manager for Boots Without Borders, a charitable initiative that sent soccer equipment to a girls soccer academy in Kenya.
With that level of maturity, it’s little surprise Samanani emerged as the natural leader of her Blues’ high school team, said its coach, Edward Roberts.
“Everyone has a great example to learn from and that permeates throughout the whole team,” Roberts said.
In fact, it’s Samanani who ensured everyone on the team got to the matches and led the warmup as Roberts was often tied up in class until just before kick-off. And if he was delayed, it’s Samanani who called the team together for a huddle.
“She’s so organized,” Roberts said. “She moms everyone.”
Samanani said she took her position as the team’s leader seriously.
“I definitely feel it’s my role to be a role model and keep that energy going,” she said. “It’s not about me, it’s about making everyone feel valued.”
It was also a chance to spread her soccer wings from the discipline of her defensive centre-back role with her Metro-Ford squad to wherever she was needed on the pitch for her high school team. And she gets to expand her network of friends to all the grades represented on the Blues.
“Her leadership isn’t just on the field,” Roberts said.
Hobbled by injuries to some key players, including their starting goalkeeper, the Blues’ return to the Fraser Valley North league was inconsistent at best, from finishing amongst the top teams at a pre-season tournament to getting blown out 8-0 by the Dr. Charles Best Blue Devils. Still, Samanani is upbeat.
“I don’t want to waste the opportunity,” she said. “I want to be the best version of myself I can be.”
Samanani will be taking that version to another level when she attends Rice University in Houston, Tex., in the fall on — of course — a soccer scholarship.
“I want to continue to be challenged,” she said. “I don’t want to coast.”
And while being in a different country and a different climate more than an hour’s flight from home causes Samanani some concern, she knows she’s got the living on her own stuff down pat. In fact she’s looking forward to having a roommate. At least it won’t be so quiet all the time.
