Although barriers have and will continue to be placed in front of student-athletes, it only fuels the fire to accomplish the improbable. Junior Ziad Kamal embraces his difficult moments, whether it be during track workouts or combatting his opponent’s skills on the mat.
Raised in a tightly connected home, Kamal is originally from Cairo, Egypt. He vividly remembers the dry atmosphere of the city as well as the communal building in which his friends and family lived. The need to stay involved with boys his age translated into Kamal joining athletics.
“Cairo is way different than Miami by the people [and the] attachment you have with them. The only thing similar about them is people complaining about the weather,” junior Ziad Kamal said.
At a very young age, Kamal played soccer with his friends on the outskirts of the city; they played for a local soccer club called Mataria. When he was 9 years old, Kamal moved to the U.S., carrying his athletic background with him.
“Training [in Cairo] was hard because the buildings don’t cover the fields. Me and my friends went training together all the time,” junior Kamal said.
Kamal attended Ponce de Leon Middle School before coming to Coral Gables Senior High. His nostalgic love for soccer is what propelled him to try out for the team as a freshman. Unfortunately, he did not make the varsity squad.
“I mostly wanted to try out because of the passion I had for [soccer] since I was young but I took a lot of time off to get back into it,” junior Kamal said.
Months after the tryout, Kamal met wrestling coach Thomas Hardy, one morning on the basketball courts. The coach noticed his size and showed him the wrestling room, where his team practiced daily. Dedicated to learning the moves, Kamal established his presence among the team during the off-season of his freshman year.
Once the wrestling season was in action, Kamal trained multiple hours of day, usually from 2:30 p.m. to around 5:00 p.m. He enjoyed perfecting moves like the sweep and another tactic called the double leg sweep. To practice these techniques, Kamal partook in live practices, in which the top wrestlers faced each other.
A normal Gables wrestling practice commences with warm-up drills and stretches. Subsequently, wrestlers get right into the action, practicing their moves. Kamal used this time to perfect his craft and apply the advice of a more experienced wrestler.
“Ziad is one of the hardest workers, always doing extra running or whatever it takes. He is very enthusiastic as he is always cheering, cracking jokes, or overall boosting team moral. He’s a good person to be around,” junior Damian Morera said.
Pursuing his ambitions for the future, Kamal’s goal is to reach states, both individually and with the Gables team. Next year, Kamal hopes to become a team captain.
“I learned from wrestling that not everything is going to hurt you, there are different types of pain and pain can push me through practice as well as, help me improve. Also, my coaches are awesome, they teach me how to make the right decisions and make sure we stay safe,” junior Kamal said.
Another compliment to Kamal’s sports journey is running cross-country.
The Cavalier joined because coach Michel Fotso watched him run track during one practice, focusing on his endurance while running laps. Coach Fotso pulled him aside after practice, suggesting he should run cross-country the following year.
Kamal has attended practices since September and is currently a varsity runner. Although speed is the most challenging aspect of running, Kamal views track workouts as a way to manifest himself and improve his splits a little bit every time.
So far, Kamal’s record for a 5-kilometer race is 18 minutes and 27 seconds. After every meet, Kamal congratulates his teammates to keep up team morale. His ultimate goal is to attend states with the team and run as fast as his legs can carry him.
“Ziad is a dedicated, hardworking, and very focused runner, who always wants to improve. He was an outsider that hadn’t had much experience running. [Now he is] among the top six runners of the team, a height of some veterans that have been here for a year or a couple of years,” cross-country coach Michel Fotso said.
Through both wrestling and cross country, Kamal has overcome mental obstacles to reach his goals. Both sports have bettered him as an athlete not only in the physical sense but also in that he surpasses the physical limitations placed on his body.
“My main reason to run and wrestle is not about others. I want to see how far I can go. I hear thousands of stories about how a champion overcame adversity…well, maybe I could be that champion,” junior Kamal said.
To catch Kamal in his next race, the cross country team will be running state finals on Nov. 17. Once the fall season concludes, Kamal will shift to the mat, taking down opponents with stern force once more.
