The journey to becoming a professional soccer player isn’t the same for everyone. Soccer players who succeeded in an academy or college team don’t just immediately become starters in a professional club. For many players, it is a slow, tedious process to even be considered.
For Ramzi Qawasmy, the journey to Atlanta United 2 was a roller coaster. It was filled with ups and downs.
His journey began when he was a young kid playing multiple different sports like basketball, baseball, football and soccer.
“My family was big with soccer,” said Qawasmy. “Ever since I was a young kid, I played a couple of different sports, but soccer was the one that stuck.”
Many players go on to play soccer at a high school level, but Qawasmy went to YSC Academy. The school was created to combine elite-level soccer training with college-preparatory academics. YSC Academy also feeds heavily into the Philadelphia Union Academy. This was the moment when Qawasmy realized that if he wanted to play soccer, he needed to be more serious about it.
“I started with a team called Continental FC, FC Delco as some people know it as, which is when I started to figure out that soccer was more serious, obviously a fun sport, but more serious in the way that I wanted to push all the other sports out even though I liked being athletic and playing all those other sports,” said Qawasmy. “I transitioned into the academy, and I played there for almost eight years while going to YSC Academy."
During his last year at YSC Academy, Qawasmy joined the Philadelphia Union academy for his final year of youth soccer.
The next challenge for Qawasmy was where he would go to play soccer in college which wasn't as easy as many believe it to be. The competition to get a roster spot at a school that you want is a challenge, more and more players are being developed and continuing to chase their dreams by playing in college.
“I had somebody in my high school named Beverly Brooks who was a college counselor who aided in all this stuff. The school that I went to was Providence College. It was the best soccer school that I got, actually, which was awesome, but what I really wanted to do was stay more local because I'm really family oriented so I like staying around my family,” said Qawasmy. "Providence College was the best soccer school that I had, and actually the best scholarship that I had as well, so I ended up chasing that dream and going out to Rhode Island to pursue to become the best student athlete I could out there.”
Once Qawasmy graduated from grad school, there was another challenge of where to go next with soccer. Qawasmy went on a lot of trials with different clubs hoping that something would stick.
“You think a trial goes well, but the coach might not like this about you, or wants a specific thing with an athlete,” said Qawasmy. “I went on a couple of different trials, and I would say the first couple were no, but then finally you get one that sticks a little bit and it turns into more of a roller coaster, because you're not exactly signed when you're out there, you're on trial, and you're trying to get a contract. It becomes a little difficult trying to manage all that. I would say especially mentally, but you're trying to do everything you can on and off the field to do the best you can when you show up the next day.”
After a few different trials ahead of the 2023 season, Qawasmy ended up in Louisville City FC. He was on trial for a bit, and they offered him a contract for the season. After the season ended, the club did not extend his contract and Qawasmy was back to square one. He touched on how difficult it can be on a player not only physically, but mentally going through the trialist process when trying to get a contract for a professional club.
“I would say that soccer is the main focus, but outside of soccer, you need a support system, people around you, and ways to kind of escape. Even when all these things are kind of going on and you're having these mentally draining situations, it's just about sticking with your support crew,” said Qawasmy. “I would say still having fun and knowing that a lot of people would still like to enjoy being in your shoes, even though it might not be going exactly the way you want it to in the current moment.”
After a few opportunities failed to pan out, Qawasmy didn’t know if he wanted to go through another trial. When Atlanta knocked on the door, he decided to give it another chance to see if it would stick.
“I was thinking back on the the last couple of opportunities that I had and thinking about would I want to do this mentally again and come out here, trial and possibly hear another no, but to me just the whole background that I had of of started when I was young and kind of looking back on the many different experiences that I had, to me it was a no brainer to come out and give it one last chance,” said Qawasmy. “To me, giving up is a tough thing to do, and to be considered I guess somewhat of a quitter is not exactly the label that I wanted. To me it was a no-brainer to come out here and at least give it everything I had and to see how everything ended up unfolding.”
Qawasmy officially signed with Atlanta United 2 back on April 19, but then another obstacle was thrown at him. On May 15, the club announced that he would miss six to eight weeks after he suffered a MCL tear in his right knee.
“It was very mentally draining in the moment, because once I did it, you don't know exactly what it is. You feel many different things like your knees bothering you, or whatever it is, and you're like, I hope this really isn't what it is. You have to go get the MRI and go get a checkup, and you're trying to figure out what it is in your own head before you get to hear the news, because you want to mentally adjust. Even though it's going to be very tough, you still want to know what's going on,” said Qawasmy.
“After getting the MRI, I (knew) it was my MCL. I knew the timeframe for MCL was almost six to eight weeks, which obviously was devastating because you want to be on the field, and you hope it's nothing but obviously it turned out to be something so what my day to day look like was just being in the gym and not really being on the field and doing all the work behind the scenes. It was tough because you want to be on the field and you want to enjoy the sport that you're able to do.”
Qawamsy did all the work in recovery and returned to the 2's back on June 26, and has been slowly working his way back into the line-up, but he is looking on the brighter side which is that there is still time in the season to play the sport he loves.
“There's a brighter side to it even though like I said there might be obstacles that come in the way,” said Qawasmy. “Just being able to stick with the guys, be with the guys around me, talk to my family and get your head out of all the mess that's going on and being able to know that there's a brighter side, I feel like it was something that pushed me into working a little bit harder off the field and do everything I could to get back and be ready for the rest of the season.”
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