MARCH 2012

sports
following in dad’s footsteps
Like father, like daughter
By Steve Stein
When North Farmington
High School girls soccer
star Sami Roumayah
signed a national letter of intent
last month to play at Eastern Illinois
University, she kick-started a family
tradition.
John Roumayah, her father,
played soccer at Nazareth College,
a Catholic school in Kalamazoo that
closed in 1992.
“My dad was a defender,” Sami
Sami Roumayah shows off her signing letter.
said. “He started me off playing defense,
but I gradually became an attacking
player and played outside
midfielder, and eventually center
midfielder.”
Sami is an outstanding center
midfielder, known for her creativity,
passing skills and fearlessness.
She’s heading into her fourth season
as a starter at North Farmington
— she’s a three-time team MVP for
the three-time city champion — and
she was a standout on the Michigan
Jaguars U18 Girls Green team that
is sending 13 of 17 players to college
programs.
She had 14 goals and 27 assists
in two years with the Jaguars, who
made it to the State Cup quarterfinals
twice.
Sami has been playing soccer for
14 years. She achieved a major goal
when she signed with Eastern Illinois.
“Because my dad played soccer in
college, I’ve had my mind set on doing
the same thing,” she said.
Eastern Illinois Coach Summer
Perala spotted Sami last year while
she was playing in a tournament in
Ohio with the Jaguars. After a visit
to the Eastern Illinois campus in
Charleston, Ill., Sami said, she knew
that was the place for her.
Eastern Michigan, Indiana-Purdue
at Ft. Wayne and Schoolcraft also
were in the running for her services.
“The coaching staff and players
at Eastern Illinois were welcoming
and nice, the campus is a good
size, the level of play suits me, and
I wanted to get out of Michigan and
enjoy the full college experience,”
Sami said, clicking off her reasons
for signing.
The Farmington Hills resident
will play center midfielder for Division
I Eastern Illinois, which hopes to
rebound from a 5-12-2 season last fall.
A 3.5 grade-point average student,
Sami plans to major in business
administration so she can pursue a
career in sports management.
She also wants to coach soccer.
She’s already coached for three years
in the Little Kickers program at the
Total Sports Complex in Wixom.
Brother vs. Brother
Oh, brother, it’s going to be quite
a day for Mazen and Loran Jaddou
when the Wayne State University
and Northern Michigan University
football teams meet on October 20
at Wayne State.
For the first — and only — time of
their football careers, the brothers
will compete against each other.
Mazen, 21, is a 5-foot-11,
200-pound senior free safety at
Wayne State who played a big role in
the Warriors’ improbable run to the
NCAA Division II national championship
game last season.
He played in 15 games in 2011,
missing one because of an injury, and
started the final nine. He was fourth
on the team with 41 solo tackles and
sixth with 71 total tackles. He’s now
played in 37 games over three seasons
at Wayne State, starting 11.
After making the post-season
playoffs for the first time in school
history last fall, Wayne State (12-
4) won an amazing four straight
road games before losing to Pittsburg
(Kan.) in the nationally televised
Division II title game in Florence,
Ala.
Among the Warriors’ road playoff
victories were wins at defending national
champion Minnesota Duluth
and previously undefeated Winston-
Salem (N.C.) State. The team traveled
more than 6,000 miles by airplane
and bus during their journey.
Loran Jaddou
Mazen Jaddou
Loran, 19, is just beginning his
collegiate football career. He’s a 5-10,
205-pound freshman strong safety at
Northern Michigan who didn’t play
last year because he was red-shirted
after suffering a shoulder injury during
practice early in the season. He
expects to start this season.
The brothers were football stars
at Birmingham Brother Rice High
School before going on to college.
They played together for a few games
when Mazen was a senior and Loran
was a freshman.
Mazen was a two-year starter who
played fullback and linebacker. Loran
started for three years. He played fullback,
strong safety and linebacker.
Each wore No. 20 for Brother
Rice. For five consecutive seasons,
the Jaddou brothers proudly wore the
SPORTS continued on page 52
50 CHALDEAN NEWS MARCH 2012