CHICAGO: Student Mohamed Saeid Binzagr’s desire to impress his father motivated him to become the first Saudi to play for the National Collegiate Athletic Association, he told Arab News.
The NCAA is the primary governing body for American college sports that regulates more than 1,000 member universities and colleges.
The 22-year-old sophomore at George Washington University in Washington D.C. is a member of its NCAA basketball team, the Revolutionaries.
“I’m a guard, and honestly, any role that I can help impact on winning is a role I’ll take,” said Binzagr. “My role is to impact the team in winning on and off the court, pushing them in practice, being a positive influence, cheering them on, working hard.”
He is where he is at today thanks to love for his family, a Saudi coach, and a chance accident when he was playing football with friends.
“Basketball isn’t a growing sport back home. It was never that big. It’s always been football. But my dad studied in the US and fell in love with the game of basketball,” Binzagr said.
“As a kid, I wanted to learn how to play basketball to play with him. So as a 7, 8-year-old I’d watch YouTube videos on basketball.”
He said his first basketball trainer, Mohanad Shobain, became his “mentor,” adding: “I joined his academy, played, evolved, and learned the game through him.”
The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted his plans to attend college so he took an extra year as a postgraduate student at Cushing Academy in Boston in order to play basketball and try to impress scouts and coaches.
He then attended Marymount University in Arlington, where an informal game of footballresulted in him tearing his ACL and meniscus, requiring medical rehabilitation.
That is where he met basketball star Alex McLean, a former trainer for the Washington Wizards, who oversaw Binzagr’s rehabilitation and introduced him to Chris Caputo, head coach of the Revolutionaries men’s team.
McLean “helped me grow. He helped me with my rehab. He has helped me on and off the court and took me in with his family as if I was one of his brothers,” Binzagr said, adding that since joining the Revolutionaries, he has received many queries from young people, including in Saudi Arabia.
“It didn’t hit me until I was having a bad day, opened my phone and saw a message from a kid back home telling me that I inspired him. His dream is also to play in the NCAA and he wants to be my rival, which is great to see,” Binzagr said.
“I’m doing something special if I can impact a kid’s life into staying disciplined, staying grounded, and showing him that anything is possible. That’s a good feeling, and I hope to continue doing that.”
