Maia Samaha '25 Recruiting Profile

Ever since I could speak being a team player always seemed to be a passion of mine. Growing up I joined many team involved activities such as scouts which was almost all about respect a working as a team. When I was given the responsibility of taking care of a six young girls at the age of 11 I was taught the difficulties and satisfactions of being not only a team player but also a team leader. I also created a project involving 5 other young women of my age from my home country Lebanon where we started by raising awareness of the effects and rapid spread of global warming and pollution. I then had the idea to widen the idea to create a game showing the world and younger generation that preserving nature and protecting it not only helps us stop global warming but also may help stop diseases since many of its plants and trees have medicinal properties. My team and I worked hard on this project and got an invite to present it to many successful men and women whom will be coming across the world to the Davos World Biodiversity Forum. All of these experiences helped build who I am today and although I love that person I still want to push myself and become truly my best self. Soccer is the way to become that best self. Growing up in a country where men and women weren't always seen the same way especially in sports I never really had encouragement of playing soccer. However, every Saturday my cousin would come home from his practices and teach me everything he learned and finally when I was old enough I tried out for the men's team and made it. Although I worked hard and pushed myself I was never taken seriously since I was a girl in a ' men's game' but i did not let that stop me from making girl soccer tournaments at school and many other soccer related events. After the 2020 explosion my country Lebanon started going downhill, this sadly lead me and many of my friends to move out. However, what I though was going to be the worst year of my life turned out te be an eye opening experience. I tried out for the girls soccer team the second I heard there was knew at my school. Although it was definitely hard for me to move across the world completely shifting realities from a private Arab school to a public American school soccer really helped me go through it and I pushed myself and for the first time in my life I finally was able to play on a real team. The rest of my story continues with soccer and I know it will always continue with my passion for soccer.