Diverse groups come together to play

By Brian Bradley
Staff Writer

It was a Monday. At 6:45 p.m., the sun was lazily setting beyond the west side of U-Md.’s Symons Hall while endless cars on Route 1 stood still behind its intersection with Campus Drive and Paint Branch Parkway. In the middle of it all, a flurry of activity defied a lethargic scene as Latinos and non-Latinos hustled and weaved across a plot of grass they transformed into their soccer field.

The engineering fields across from Glenn L. Martin Hall have hosted pick-up soccer games for years, uniting people of many different cultures.

“I’ve been playing here since 2006,” said Asitav Mishra, 29, an Indian-American U-Md. graduate student in the school of aerospace engineering who has experienced this fusion of cultures.

“Most of the time, [engineering graduate students] spend [their] time researching, then during the evenings, [we come out here]; it helps us prepare for our intramural games … I see some French, some Italians, Brazilian[s] and El Salvadorians [playing here] [sic],” Mishra said.

The games bridge gaps between people of different ethnicities, according to David Ramos, a Colombia native who finished graduate school at this university in August. “You will meet here not only Americans, but [also] Africans and Europeans,” Ramos said.

Playing pick-up soccer on a college campus in the United States is different than playing in other countries, Ramos added.

“When I was playing in Colombia, people were arguing a lot; you don’t see that here,” Ramos said. “People are usually very friendly, so if you come, you know you’re going to come back home without any injuries.”

Fourth-year aerospace engineering graduate student Imraan Faruque pointed out a contrast between certain players on the field.

“There’s two different crowds on this field: the big, burly guys where you’re going to get bumped around and hit a bunch and, then, the largeer guys where you’re going to get your shins all scraped up,” said Faruque, a native of Alexandria, Va.

In addition to Mishra and Faruque, freshman architecture major Betsy Nolen uses these casual contests to supplement her intramural and club games.

“We have people who have never played before and people who are on the club teams,” Nolen said.

Faruque started coming to the games thinking that it might be a great way to meet people.

“[Other players and I] will occasionally exchange a [Facebook] message, but I haven’t made any best friends on the field,” Faruque said.

According to Ramos, people come and go throughout the course of the games, which usually begin around 6 p.m. and last until dark or until the fields close.

“It’s kind of a cultural thing how [Latinos and non-Latinos both] play soccer,” Nolen said. “It’s something we share.”