That's My Rule

By Justin Braden

Mississauga, Ontario–

Samir Nayfeh washes the spilled gasoline off his hands, wipes the burnt rubber off his face, and packs up to head home. Working a Go-Kart track is a far cry from his time as a defensive back in high school, but he knows this is not his end game. 

I ask him how he gets to the Go-Kart track, and he laughs and says, "The engine got destroyed back in March. I'm saving for a new one soon." 

He reminds me of myself when I was young—Wise beyond his years and too ambitious for his own good. As I get older, I forget those little struggles that made me who I am today. I think about being 21 again, and my 96’ Monte Carlo that blew an intake gasket on I-81 between Johnson City and Knoxville, and the gas station attendant who cussed at me in a language I couldn’t quite understand, while coolant poured out of the motor and onto the lot of his Shell station. 

Out of high school, Nayfeh had multiple offers to play college football in the United States, but as a Canadian, he was not eligible for the financial aid that most American players receive as collegiate student-athletes. 

“I decided to coach instead,” says Nayfeh, a 6-foot tall, 170-pound defensive back out of Meadowvale Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. 

Nayfeh returned to his old high school to coach the up-and-coming talent. He kept training, of course, but his road to making his dreams happen winds more than most players who have graduated. He works two jobs - one as a football coach and the other at a Go-Kart track.

Samir’s day is not a typical day for a 21-year-old. His aspirations remain high to play college football, and he now he again has offers coming in from schools in the United States again, but it has taken a great effort of self-promotion and personal advocacy for him to reposition himself as a recruit in the eyes of collegiate coaches. Real men persevere. 

“Working on the track, of course, it gets really hot. It's a lot of physical work, you know, we have to push Go Karts. Someone crashes. We have to fix them. Pull up the Kart. I have to pull tires and fix tires and a lot of things, so it's basically a gym membership while you're while you're working.

So that's also great. I get gas on my hands and everything. Then the smell does not go away. 

I dig for his best story, expecting one about a careless drunk, or a group of rowdy kids, and he instead tells me about having his leg crushed by a Go-Kart. 

“I was checking this Kart and I was looking it over. This (was) my first year working there and then another Kart just came and smashed right into the back of my leg.”

Like the gasoline on his hands, Nayfeh does not go away. He takes football seriously. He admits maybe too seriously by Canadian standards, but he does not lower his bar. Samir is the barometer of his own success, and his tenacity as a constant gardener cultivating his talents is beginning to pay off. 

“I've been emailing nonstop, following coaches, putting my phone out nonstop, emailing nonstop. I’m working all the time. That's my only focus now is maintaining my work ethic and training. I’m asking coaches, ‘How can I improve on this?”

Samir's work ethic is his edge over the competition, and he has a message for Canadian athletes who find themselves in similar situations. 

“If you really want something., you just have to really go and get it because again, in Canada, there's absolutely no chance that any American coach is going to go after you. Even if they’re Canadian. We didn't have any coaches or scouts coming into our games or anything, let alone American coaches. So just put yourself out there. You give 100%. Don't give up.”

I hear Samir’s story and I want to know why he does not just move on. He's a smart young man, wise beyond his 21 years. He could commit himself to anything and find success, why would he want to commit to being a student-athlete? Why does he keep grinding it out at the Go-Kart track, then coming home and training for hours, watching film, and researching schools? 

“I could very well just say no. I don't want to train anymore, but here I am. I have great opportunities which I'm honestly really grateful for because I didn't even expect that to happen. But I was like, hey, you know what? If I could do it before, I could do it again. I know more about the game now. Now, I see football from a coach’s perspective so, I just don't give up. That's my rule.”

I'm wrapping up my call with Samir – a Facetime call to avoid international charges, but before I go, I want to know what has given him the faith to persevere through all his adversity, and he drops solid truth on me. The rules that God outlined for him. 

“I trust God. I was at a point in my life where I was on medication and I lost so much weight and I had no drive, and then I just completed a 180 and just flipped it. Now here I am working toward my goals again. When I actually trusted in God, good things began to happen.”

Samir’s investments are starting to pay dividends. Utah Tech head coach Lance Anderson extended an offer to him to come down to their campus this summer for a workout. Nayfeh is as close to being on an American collegiate sideline as he has ever been.  

We end our interview, and I’m left sitting in the room thinking about this kid, and I smile knowing that one day our paths are going to cross again. I look at my notepad. I didn’t make many notes for this one. He was genuine, and our conversation just flowed, so I didn’t write much down. I only wrote down one line on my notepad. Something he said that motivated me to be more myself. 

“I won’t end this with any regrets at all.” 

Follow Justin Braden on X @jkbradenco for more prep sports coverage and an opportunity to comment on this article and others. Criticism and feedback of the media improve the quality of coverage given to student-athletes.

Copyright © 2024. Bradenco Broadcasting.