Sophomore Salma Bezzat. Photo taken by Emraude Bonnet.
Salma Bezzat is one of the two sophomores that are on the Malden High girl’s varsity basketball team. She has already shown her skills in even just the very first game of the season.
Last year, she was on JV and she “played like one or two games” but this is her first year on varsity officially. She doesn’t start on varsity, but she’s one of the runner-ups.
When asked which team would be her favorite team to play, she said Everett because it’s “going to be pretty intense” and can’t wait to play them.
She’s been playing basketball since fifth grade, where she started on the recreational team.
Her goals for this season are to really want to beat the varsity record from last year. Last year, the varsity team won 2 games and lost 18 games out of 20 games. “[She thinks] that even if [they] win three games and lose 17 that would be great because [they’d] be moving forward.”
Salma plays a forward/shooter; and plans on playing basketball after high school.
When asked how she feels about being one of the only sophomores on varsity, she talked about how it’s pretty intense and how coach Scott Marino always refers to her “as the sophomore on the team.” As a sophomore she’s the one who collects the balls after practice and has to do tasks like so. It was “a little intimidating” because last year she was playing with them as well, as a freshman, but she likes it. “It’s pretty chill,” according to her.
So how did Salma make it this far? The answer is wherever she goes she brings a ball, she used to play with the boys when she was younger, and even though her mother thought that the boys were too rough, Salma observed that they were the only people who were playing sports that she could play with. That must be how she learned how to play so skillfully and aggressively. She’s just doing what she loves, and according to her, “this is just [her], being [her].”
Salma is not only on the varsity basketball team, but she’s also on the varsity soccer team, so naturally, we asked which one she likes better. It was a hard question that she struggled to answer with, of course. She likes the sport soccer a little better, but still has a great love for basketball. She loves both teams equally, yet the basketball team is smaller, which gives them a more concrete relationship.
Make sure to watch out for #22, Salma Bezzat, on the basketball court!
