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SJSU student chosen to play for Afghanistan National Team

Sophmore civil engineering student Safi Mojadiddi takes pride in playing for his country

Michael Rizzo Issue date: 11/14/07

He's not an NCAA athlete, but basketball is his life - and now he's living his athletic dream. Safi Mojadiddi, 20, donned the No. 6 jersey for the Afghanistan National Basketball Team last week and made his debut as point guard in an exhibition game against Holy Names University. Mojadiddi got 15 minutes of game time - and played through a nervous rush of adrenaline, he said - but the team lost in overtime. The national team, made up of Afghan-Americans from across the U.S., is making its comeback to the world scene and working its way to international games. With overseas competitions becoming a reality for Mojadiddi, a sophomore civil engineering major at SJSU, he's been training like crazy and working to get ahead on his school work.

The Spartan Daily got the chance to talk with Mojadiddi about his devotion to the sport and the honor of playing for his country, just before he headed out to Holy Names.

Spartan Daily: Tell me a little about how you got into the sport of basketball and how your love of it grew over time. How old were you when you started playing?

Safi Mojadiddi: I've been playing basketball since the second grade. I was playing for this outside league at second grade, and right off the bat playing on the fourth grade team. So that motivated me in working hard. I've been playing since junior high, and not only have I been playing for my school teams, I've been playing on other leagues. I'm still in contact with my high school coach, too. I have a lot of basketball experience. It's just been around. Basketball's pretty much my life.

SD: Tell me a little about what the Afghanistan National Basketball Team is.

Safi: The Afghanistan basketball team was assembled a long time ago, but since then, all these wars that happened - it just disappeared - and nothing was happening. Sports in Afghanistan just went away. In December, they rebuilt the team; had tryouts in Virginia and Anaheim for all the players, which I attended. They got a new coach, who coached at Idaho State and played at UC Davis. California has a big population of Afghans. This is actually the first time the Afghanistan National Team has ever played on U.S. territory. From now on, we're probably going to go overseas for tournaments.

SD: What's the process that you had to go through to make the team?

Safi: Since high school year I've been playing on a traveling team. It was a team that I built with players I picked that were Afghan that I knew from all over California. You just travel everywhere. You have tournaments in New York, tournaments in Virginia, Los Angeles, the Bay Area. And from there, you got really good exposure. I was getting ranked up there, in the top 20 point guards. From there on, people just knew who I was, and then I got invited to come try out. There were probably around 65 people there. It was a two-day tryout. There was guard coaches, big man coaches, and I did pretty good. From there on, they told me that, "We want you to play on the team."

SD: Tell me more about this team that you started when you were in high school. What was that like?

Safi: Our team's been together now for two or three years. It's a traveling team where you play three or four times a year. Our whole team was pretty much in high school, and we were all from different places. There were a couple people from Sacramento, Walnut Creek, and there was a few from my high school that I grew up with. We played in our first tournament, and we lost in the semi-finals. We went undefeated until there. I mean, we came into that tournament, and nobody knew who we were. But now it's been three or four years I've been playing in these tournaments, and our team's probably ranked one of the highest. We've been sponsored by different companies, so everything's paid for. We have a good time.

SD: When did you first make this team, and what are some of the experiences you've had with it so far?

Safi: This week is going to be when I debut for my national team. I've been working really hard, and if I get a couple minutes or if I get a lot of game, I'm going to be ready to go. I'm looking forward to it. I don't know what to expect, though. We only have two games officially under our belt. We're 1-1. After this tour, they're planning on going overseas, hopefully sometime in December. We're planning on playing in a lot of Asian tournaments. … We're looking forward to getting out there overseas, playing as many games and getting good experience - the team's kind of young.

SD: Do you have any aspirations for the future as far as basketball is concerned?

Safi: It's like a dream come true because you're going to put a jersey on with your country name. You're wearing a jersey to represent your whole country - and not only your country, the Afghans that are in America. You're going to represent them. Even if you get in or out of the game, I'm going to wear that jersey with a lot pride. I'm looking forward to hopefully playing overseas after I'm done with basketball or just keep playing with my national team; try to get as many games as I can while I'm in school and just continue - try to make the team better.

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