sports following in
sports following in dad’s footsteps Like father, like daughter By Steve Stein When North Farmington High School girls soccer star Sami Roumayah signed a national letter of intent last month to play at Eastern Illinois University, she kick-started a family tradition. John Roumayah, her father, played soccer at Nazareth College, a Catholic school in Kalamazoo that closed in 1992. “My dad was a defender,” Sami Sami Roumayah shows off her signing letter. said. “He started me off playing defense, but I gradually became an attacking player and played outside midfielder, and eventually center midfielder.” Sami is an outstanding center midfielder, known for her creativity, passing skills and fearlessness. She’s heading into her fourth season as a starter at North Farmington — she’s a three-time team MVP for the three-time city champion — and she was a standout on the Michigan Jaguars U18 Girls Green team that is sending 13 of 17 players to college programs. She had 14 goals and 27 assists in two years with the Jaguars, who made it to the State Cup quarterfinals twice. Sami has been playing soccer for 14 years. She achieved a major goal when she signed with Eastern Illinois. “Because my dad played soccer in college, I’ve had my mind set on doing the same thing,” she said. Eastern Illinois Coach Summer Perala spotted Sami last year while she was playing in a tournament in Ohio with the Jaguars. After a visit to the Eastern Illinois campus in Charleston, Ill., Sami said, she knew that was the place for her. Eastern Michigan, Indiana-Purdue at Ft. Wayne and Schoolcraft also were in the running for her services. “The coaching staff and players at Eastern Illinois were welcoming and nice, the campus is a good size, the level of play suits me, and I wanted to get out of Michigan and enjoy the full college experience,” Sami said, clicking off her reasons for signing. The Farmington Hills resident will play center midfielder for Division I Eastern Illinois, which hopes to rebound from a 5-12-2 season last fall. A 3.5 grade-point average student, Sami plans to major in business administration so she can pursue a career in sports management. She also wants to coach soccer. She’s already coached for three years in the Little Kickers program at the Total Sports Complex in Wixom. Brother vs. Brother Oh, brother, it’s going to be quite a day for Mazen and Loran Jaddou when the Wayne State University and Northern Michigan University football teams meet on October 20 at Wayne State. For the first — and only — time of their football careers, the brothers will compete against each other. Mazen, 21, is a 5-foot-11, 200-pound senior free safety at Wayne State who played a big role in the Warriors’ improbable run to the NCAA Division II national championship game last season. He played in 15 games in 2011, missing one because of an injury, and started the final nine. He was fourth on the team with 41 solo tackles and sixth with 71 total tackles. He’s now played in 37 games over three seasons at Wayne State, starting 11. After making the post-season playoffs for the first time in school history last fall, Wayne State (12- 4) won an amazing four straight road games before losing to Pittsburg (Kan.) in the nationally televised Division II title game in Florence, Ala. Among the Warriors’ road playoff victories were wins at defending national champion Minnesota Duluth and previously undefeated Winston- Salem (N.C.) State. The team traveled more than 6,000 miles by airplane and bus during their journey. Loran Jaddou Mazen Jaddou Loran, 19, is just beginning his collegiate football career. He’s a 5-10, 205-pound freshman strong safety at Northern Michigan who didn’t play last year because he was red-shirted after suffering a shoulder injury during practice early in the season. He expects to start this season. The brothers were football stars at Birmingham Brother Rice High School before going on to college. They played together for a few games when Mazen was a senior and Loran was a freshman. Mazen was a two-year starter who played fullback and linebacker. Loran started for three years. He played fullback, strong safety and linebacker. Each wore No. 20 for Brother Rice. For five consecutive seasons, the Jaddou brothers proudly wore the SPORTS continued on page 52 50 CHALDEAN NEWS MARCH 2012
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