Wednesday, Sep 14, 2022 • 12min
How her love of basketball took Nadine Selaawi from Egypt to the US – and back
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Meet basketball player Nadine Selaawi, the teenage schoolgirl from Egypt who challenged cultural expectations and went to the USA to follow her dreams. Inspired by her family, Nadine became a record-breaking athlete at college, and now she's preparing for the Red Bull Half Court World Final back home in Cairo.
This is a long read taken from Red Bull.com. Read this article at https://www.redbull.com/int-en/nadine-selaawi-egyptian-basketball-profile
https://www.redbull.com/int-en/nadine-selaawi-egyptian-basketball-profile
Discover more about Beyond the Ordinary and find every episode at redbull.com/beyondtheordinary
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Anna Myers
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
Transcript
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Anna Myers
00:07
Meet
Egypt's
trailblazing basketballer Nadine Selaawi, who broke records at college in the US and is now preparing for the Red Bull Half Court World Final back home.Share
00:20
This is a long read taken from RedBull.com, written by Laura Urrutia, read by Anna Myers.
Share
00:37
You know when you do something so well, and make it look so natural, that people say you could do it with your eyes closed? In the case of
Egyptian
basketball player Nadine Selaawi, that’s literally true – and she has the video on Instagram to prove it.Share
00:55
It all goes back to her first year playing for
University Of North Carolina
at Greensboro. After missing a crucial shot, Nadine turned up on court at 6 am the next day to make 300 free throws. She kept the same practice schedule for four months, gaining in skill, muscle memory and confidence to the point where she broke every scoring record at her school.Share
01:23
Now back playing in
Egypt
for the mighty Al Ahly
, her team-mates challenged her to take free throws blindfolded in training and, just for fun, she made 12 out of 15 – a percentage not every player manages with their eyes wide open.Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
01:41
It’s true, I have a really high percentage from the free-throw line
Share
Anna Myers
01:45
She says.
Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
01:46
Like, during the game if I get 15 free shots I’m not going to miss one, I’d get 15 out of 15. So that’s why we made the blindfolded video. It just became a sense for me, I do the same thing every time.
Share
01:60
I always had the thing in me, I know I'm one of the best, but I always want to be the best, so I always go the extra mile to do what I can to reach my goal.
Share
Anna Myers
02:12
The story about how she got so good from the free throw line illustrates her refusal to give anything less than full commitment. But there’s another side to her that’s just as important, and that is her determination to ensure that whatever she achieves, she’ll be having fun doing it, and it'll be on her own terms.
Share
02:33
More than anything, it’s empowerment that’s the key to understanding Nadine. It’s the reason she defied cultural expectations and went to the US in the first place at 17, and why she’s now back home in
Egypt
at the age of 24, starring for club and country in the standard version of the sport, as well as in 3-on-3.Share
02:53
It’s in the latter format that you’ll likely see her challenging for honours in the Red Bull Half Court World Final, which will take place in
Cairo
from September 30th to October 1st.Share
03:04
The faster and harder the game is, the more Nadine loves it, and the more comfortable she feels, which is why she’s so at home playing the frenetic, exhilarating and wildly unpredictable 3-on-3.
Share
03:17
But there’s another reason 3-on-3 is ideal for her. With no coaching from courtside, the players are totally in control – and that gives her a sense of freedom that only adds to the sheer joy she feels playing the game.
Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
03:32
3-on-3 is very quick, fast paced...
Share
Anna Myers
03:35
She explains.
Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
03:36
It's a lot harder because the clock, it's only 12 seconds, and in the 5-on-5, it's 24 seconds. You have to be super-decisive when you have the ball, because you don't have a lot of time.
Share
Anna Myers
03:48
The tournament brings the winners from 25 countries together for a World Final that'll take place in front of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: The Pyramids of Giza.
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Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
04:02
It’s an exciting prospect for players and fans alike. I feel like the 3-on-3 in
Egypt
has been a new thing for this past couple of years,Share
Anna Myers
04:10
She says.
Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
04:11
So having this huge event, the World Final coming into
Egypt
is going to bring a lot of attention to young people, so it's going to be really good.Share
04:21
It’s going to be my first Red Bull Half Court and I want to win it, I want to be there and win it outright. We want it to be really cool. It’s a really, really, really huge event. So it's gonna be amazing.
Share
Anna Myers
04:34
If Nadine Selaawi says it’s gonna be amazing, well, she should know. Put simply, she was born to play the game.
Share
04:42
Her dad, Mohamed Selaawi, represented
Egypt
in the Olympics In 1984
and was the country’s top scorer. Her mum, Eman Badrawy, also played in the national team and her two older brothers followed their parents onto the court too.Share
04:60
Since she was a little girl her dad warned her about how tough it would be to make it. But she never felt discouraged, with her father’s words sparking a strong desire to be the hardest working player in the sport, as well as the best.
Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
05:15
I remember I was probably like four or five years old and I didn’t really know what basketball was,
Share
Anna Myers
05:21
She recalls.
Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
05:22
I just knew that for my dad it was a big thing, and we watched his team and stuff. One time he received a trophy, I really loved it, because it was huge, and I was like, "Dad, can you give me this?" and he was like, "Where do you think I got this from?"
Share
05:38
I thought it was from the supermarket or something, but he explained that he got it for being MVP of the tournament. Then he took me to the room he has with medals and cups and he told me, "You know, that’s all mine, I got it from practise and achievement in tournaments" and I was like, "I wanna be like him!" Literally, that’s what motivated me the most and I told my mum: "Take me to practise!"
Share
06:03
So it happened naturally that I chose basketball. I loved it and I decided to play. I saw my dad’s videos and films, he talked to us about basketball, his passion for basketball, and my mum as well. That kind of pushed me to say: "I want to do this as well."
Share
Anna Myers
06:21
While her dad’s basketball attention was focused mainly on her brothers, Nadine kept training hard at
Al Ahly
Club in Cairo
under the watchful eye of her mum, and by the time she was 13 she told her parents she wanted to go to the United States to study and play ball.Share
06:40
That was a bold stance for an
Egyptian
girl at that time, and while her mum supported her, her dad at first refused to accept the idea. It wasn’t until Nadine played her first official basketball final in Egypt
in the under-14s category that her dad watched her play properly and he was astonished at what he saw. It was then that he realised he had to let her follow her dream.Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
07:05
He was shocked, literally he was like: "You can move!" He kept telling my mum: "Nadine is really good! You never told me!" She was like, "No, I have told you!" But he was like, "No, but you are really, really good and you have a really good chance of being a very good player."
Share
Anna Myers
07:23
But the person who truly convinced her not only to go to the USA, but to do all she could to leave a mark, was her brother Ahmed, who also had the opportunity to go abroad but ultimately decided to stay. She recalls:
Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
07:40
Back then, when I chose to go to The States, my motivation was my brother, because he had the chance back then, to go to The States, and he didn’t and he regretted it. And he was really talking to me about going, like he motivated me so much for me to go over there, but not just to go, to break some records and have my name, you know, pinned up there.
Share
08:01
That’s exactly how it turned out – but it took a lot of courage and dedication to make it happen.
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Anna Myers
08:08
Back in 2016, the first night the 17-year-old Nadine was at the hotel after flying alone to the US to study Communication at UNC Greensboro was the moment when she realised her dreams of playing high level basketball were really coming true. She says:
Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
08:27
Me, taking my bag and getting on an airplane, going to the States, I was like, "I feel like I’m dreaming, for real." Then the first night at the hotel I was like, "Wow, wow, wow, I really have done this, I’m in the States and I'm starting a new phase in my life."
Share
Anna Myers
08:45
Nadine truly shone in the US, becoming UNCG’s all-time leading women’s basketball scorer with 2,084 points, and making such an impact that the school is planning a ceremony to hang her jersey – the same number 35 her dad used to play in – at the court.
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Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
09:07
It’s something I’m really proud of.
Share
Anna Myers
09:09
She says, simply.
Share
09:11
After college, she chose not to stay on, opting instead to come back home to her childhood team in
Egypt
to support the game in her country, and, she hopes to help talented young athletes follow the same path she did.Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
09:27
I had a chance to play overseas, but I wanted to be back and play for my national team and I wanted to represent my club as well,
Share
Anna Myers
09:34
She says.
Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
09:35
So just along the way there’s a lot of sacrifice. That pushes me to be a better person, you know, to work harder.
Share
09:43
In the last 10 years with the senior team, we didn’t really get to the Final Four in the African Championship, so I want to put my national team back where we're supposed to be and as well, my club, I want to represent my club in
Egypt
. Since I got back, that’s what motivates me.Share
09:59
I just know for a fact that we do have a lot of
Egyptian
players who are very good, who have a chance to play overseas and in The States
and I really would love to be a part of their journey, to be able to take them on the same path as I did.Share
10:13
I am looking into an academy or something, and having clinics, maybe getting coaches from Europe and
The States
. It’s going to be a long-term plan. Maybe when I retire from playing basketball I will have more time to do it.Share
Anna Myers
10:27
In
Cairo
, Nadine has already made a huge impact in more ways than one. Not only has she been the league’s leading scorer for the past two years, but she’s also had an influence in training. Her new team-mates used to laugh at some of her pre-game visualisation techniques in the locker room, but now that they’ve seen how it helps, they’ve started working with a mental strength coach too.Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
10:50
Visualisation has really helped me,
Share
Anna Myers
10:52
She explains.
Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
10:53
“When I get to the court, I sit in the locker room for a little bit and it might seem funny, but it really helps. I am a three-point shooter, so I visualise myself like shooting threes, like with the motion, like I’d be sitting closing my eyes and I see the ball going inside the rim, going inside the rim. It's really worked for me for a long time now.
Share
11:13
Yeah, first they laughed, everyone laughed, they were like, "How do you just sit in the locker room and just be like throwing nothing?" But they didn’t really understand that it’s a routine.
Share
Anna Myers
11:23
With the
2024 Olympic Games
in sight, Nadine also hopes to lead Egypt
to Paris both in traditional basketball and 3-on-3. It’s in the latter format that she feels their chances might be better, and it’s a version of the game she’s completely at home playing.Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
11:40
I’ve loved playing 3-on-3 since I was young,
Share
Anna Myers
11:42
She says.
Share
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi
11:43
I feel super-comfortable playing it, and I've played in the World Cup twice. I feel like how I play the game suits it a lot. I’m a leader, and you don't have any person coaching you outside, so it’s just the players. You know, it takes a lot of pressure off your shoulders. You're just having fun on the court.
Share
Anna Myers
12:01
You won’t see Nadine shoot blindfolded during the Red Bull Half Court World Final, but you’ll certainly see her having fun. You’ll also feel her unconditional love for the game and determination to give everything for
Egypt
– and you can bet her family will be watching closely in the crowd.Share
12:24
This article was taken from RedBull.com for more articles like this one followed beyond the ordinary wherever you get your podcasts.
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Anna Myers
Narrator - Nadine Selaawi