UNC students combine soccer, religion

Adam Thompson

New Bern [North Carolina] Sun Journal. April 8, 2012.

Despite their religious backgrounds, Sasha Seymore, Dylan Simel, and Ahmad Saad share one passion—soccer.

. . . Seymore and Simel played soccer at New Bern High School [in North Carolina]. Now, they are freshmen roommates at UNC. Saad plays soccer on UNC’s club team with Seymore.

Seymore is a Christian, Simel is Jewish, and Saad is Muslim. The three of them formed a friendship, which started through soccer. . . .

Together, the trio plans on dribbling soccer balls from Asheville [North Carolina] to Atlantic Beach.

That’s more than 400 miles and more than three weeks of their time. The cause is to make people aware that individuals with different perspectives in the world can coexist and be friends. . . .

Seymore, Simel, and Saad are dribbling soccer balls to raise donations for three organizations—Soccer for Peace (in New York City), Maccabim Association (Israel), and the Peres Center for Peace (Israel).

Those are organizations that bring kids of different backgrounds together to play sports, including soccer. . . .

They are hoping to dribble a soccer ball anywhere from 20 to 25 miles a day. . . . Simel said, “Every stop, we are going to stop at a mosque, or a temple, or a church, and we are going to talk about what we are doing. It doesn’t have to be just religious groups. We can talk to soccer organizations, schools, anywhere we can talk, we will talk.” . . .

“We are not pushing our religions on each other,” Simel said. “We have no political agenda whatsoever. It’s more about the fact that these three religions can coexist. We are using soccer as a way to break down the traditionalists and say that it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can get along and be friends. This is about trust, putting down your guard and playing soccer.” . . .

Adam Thompson

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