Yazan Al-Ajlouni, class of 2019, is a Biology major, minoring in Public Health with a Pre-Medical and Health track. Despite missing half of his freshman season due to injury, he came back on the field with incredible energy in the fall semester of his sophomore year. His aspirations to be a doctor had him balancing Foundations of Science 1-6 and daily 7 a.m. trainings for three semesters. He is currently studying away in Sydney but will return to lead the team again in his junior fall semester.

####You’re currently spending a semester abroad. What do you miss? Have you been able to play football at all?

I do actually miss football, the whole team. I miss the feeling that you get when you keep looking [forward] to Wednesday night, that you have something on Wednesday night and working towards something on that week. One thing that I really miss the most is breakfast with the team post-practice. Most of my meals here [in Sydney] are on my own, especially since I’m living in the middle of the city and everything’s just fast-paced. Breakfast after practice was a nice 30-40 minutes where I could relax with the guys. I have been playing football here [in Sydney] regularly, but you see, not all football is the same. It’s different playing with the people I usually play with at NYUAD; with all the traditions associated with the playing time, it becomes more than just 2 hours of football.

####How did community and family come to represent the football team?

From the very start, back in Sama days, Coach [Peter Dicce] made sure that the team is all about building a loving community. It made sense with a small student body and limited facilities; the team was not about competition, but all about that sense of community. I arrived in August 2015 and from the first practice it was obvious that these values are integrated within the team; upperclassmen welcomed us as if they had known us for years. It was clear that Coach had invested a lot of time ensuring these values are present, and that individuals are aware of how to pass it to incoming freshmen every year. The people on the football team are exceptional in their personalities. Aside from being very passionate about what they do on the pitch, they’re also very passionate about their teammates off the pitch. Coach always mentioned that we’ve got to treat each other and care for each other the same way we do on the pitch and off the pitch. These ideas just stuck ever since we started. We made sure that we could go in with them and we improve them over time. Without realizing, we found ourselves as sophomores telling the freshmen the same thing — that is exactly how it was passed to us and will keep passing for generations. If there’s one thing that we, as individuals, have learned from each other in the team, it is that these values are not only limited to our time on the pitch or with each other as team members, but it is also our responsibility to replicate these notions outside the team with every individual we interact with on campus, and I truly believe this is the case. I don't think I’ve ever met more loving and caring people than my teammates.

####During your freshman year, you sustained a serious injury. When you got injured, what were some thoughts running through your head? Did you ever think about leaving football for good? I got injured at the point where we just got qualified, we got into the serious stuff, and I really wanted to be there. That year, the guys that were on the team made me feel really important in the team. The injury was out of time, out of place. But the guys on the team, the support that they gave me was insane. I never considered leaving the team. I always felt like I would come back just like before. And how everyone was so happy during summer course when I was back and everyone used to make sure that we go to futsal, play together, so that I would get a chance to play after all those months. Those were things that I appreciated very much through the injury and they made me feel much better. I always noticed that they all put effort together to make me feel involved … I remember for a solid month between my surgery and the final game, I used to go to every morning practice and just stand there, and Coach would always joke around that I was his new assistant coach. For the Interclassico, they let me coach them so that I would not feel left out. The injury was a great learning experience for me, and I’ll always make sure to treat whoever gets injured the way I was treated.

####Do you have any advice that you would tell freshmen who find themselves unable to play, whether because they’re on the bench or due to injury? Joining the football team was the turning point in my NYUAD experience. I met all my best friends from the football team. I literally had the best times with the people from my football team … I always say the team had more of an impact on me socially and affected other things in my life, rather than my physique or my fitness. Coach always said that the program is there so that we would be a family all together. That’s what the football team is about, and what the guys there always try to do, and why we all want to be in the team and why we push for it — because we all feel like a family there. Whoever joins as a freshman, whether they’re on the bench or whether they’re the most important player, they will always feel welcomed, the team will always make them feel like they’re part of this family, the same way the upperclassmen previously made us feel when we came in as freshmen. … I really think that it all comes down to the fact that the guys on the team will eventually become your best friends. They become your support at NYUAD, whether you need something or not. We’re always there for each other and that’s what the football team comes down to; whether you’re playing or not, you’re family — that is it.

####What would you say to the freshmen that may want to join but aren’t sure if they’ll fit in? The same way I found my way to the community and found my support at NYUAD through the football team ... you can do the same by joining. I can promise you, everyone is very welcoming once you express interest. Coach always says that the skill doesn’t matter as much as the heart matters … we always have space for you. In football, it’s always that the heart matters more than your skill or talent. If you don’t feel like you’re good enough, you can just improve with time. We always have opportunities and if you need the support for that, you can always find that support from the people on the team.

####Were there any lessons that you learnt through the team or through Coach that you take on through life? The idea of loyalty. For example, whenever I wake up at 6:30 a.m., I really want to go back to sleep … but I think about all these people [on the football team] and how much they mean to me and I wouldn’t skip practice. I wouldn’t be lazy and stay in because I know they’re all getting up for the same reason that I’m getting up for. And so we do it for the people we love and I think that’s a lesson that can be replicated outside the pitch in many aspects. I think that’s important. … When we play, it’s like the whole world is watching us because all the people you care about are on the pitch right now. Literally my entire world is right here on the pitch. And so, I learned how to be committed to something that I’m passionate and crazy about. When you’re passionate about something, just keep doing it well even though the odds may not always be with you. The odds may not always serve you. When you do something, do it for the people you love and for yourself, that’s what really matters in the end.

####You’re coming back next semester. How do you feel about returning to the team? Going away to Sydney made me realise how much I love my life in Abu Dhabi, even though I complained many times … it really made me realise all the blessings. In every aspect I consider when I think about Abu Dhabi, I somehow find it connected to the football team. … I’m just feeling happy to get back to Abu Dhabi and get that lifestyle back that’s interconnected to the team. I’m very excited about next semester because we’re really truly going to have the strongest team we have had in a good while.… All of us are going to be there and I think that’s going to give us the extra push.

####Any final words? I started by saying that NYUAD football team aims to build a community outside the pitch. The same way the football team helped me in the past two years, I hope it does for other people. I dream of a day where the NYUAD football team becomes that turning point in everyone’s life. I dream of that day where families and friends gather around for an hour or two and go out to watch the team play, in an activity that gets them closer together. All the members of this team are insanely in love with the team; we all want everyone to be involved, we all want the team to touch someone’s life one way or another, because we realize how helpful that is. Whether as a player, a fan or any community member, we want the team to be something that influences your relationships and life like it does to us. And for us, the members, this is a mission that we are committed to. We all dream to return to this campus years later and gather to watch a game with the stadium stands packed with members of this community all together - cheering for their team. Cheering for their team, not because their friends are playing, but because this is something they truly love, something that resembles their community and their school. One day someone is going to write an article in The Gazelle entitled Smells Like School Spirit and that is the moment when we will confidently say that the NYUAD men’s football team won the most valuable championship.