By Ralph Martins
It isn’t easy to graduate early. It’s even tougher when you have to juggle university with a professional football career. But Jassim Kunji keeps his eye on the ball.
The 19-year-old Kunji is a goalkeeper at the Al-Rayyan Sports Club. He is also a journalism junior at Northwestern University in Qatar who just graduated on May 5, thanks to eight Advanced Placement courses in high school.
“Studying journalism at NU-Q is essentially working as a journalist,” he said. “It’s a very hands on approach where you’re doing a lot of the work you would as an actual employee for a news organization.”
Kunji will be starting work at the Al Jazeera English Network after graduation, and says he’s looking forward to being independent.
“It’s a big commitment, it’s pretty intense and it can get to you,” says Kunji of his responsibilities in football.
Players train or play games at least six days a week during the season, for at least three hours a day. Kunji says he sometimes doesn’t get a day off for two or three weeks, and that he has friends outside football and university who will see no sign of him during that time.
That isn’t all there is to it. Kunji says that being a professional player means “you have to keep good care of your body and your mind.” This means following a sleep schedule, and eating certain things at certain times.
“From the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to sleep, (it’s) always at the back of the mind, that you have football today,” Kunji says.
This is difficult in itself, but Kunji’s university life demands effort too. Journalism classes can be a lot of work, he says.
Kunji has usually been able to manage both university and football well, but adds that there have been times when the two have conflicted. He’s solved this by organizing his university schedule to leave time for football.
This can entail taking less than the regular number of classes, as he has done this semester. Kunji also took at least 8 AP courses in high school, which count toward his degree.
“Especially with football, I wouldn’t take the course overloads and stuff,” he says.
Kunji says he’s enjoyed his history classes at university; his liberal arts concentration is in history.
But football is clearly the love of the young goalie’s life.
“I don’t really remember a time when I haven’t been playing football,” Kunji says. He started playing as a goalie in high school, before playing for Al-Gharafa’s under-19 side and later making his move to Al-Rayyan this January.
“I go to practice, and I’m just happy to be there, because it’s something I enjoy doing,” Kunji says.
“The emotional bond a lot of us have to sports is something you don’t find in other things. For 90 minutes you pin your hopes and dreams on the 11 people on the field,” he says.
The Juventus supporter says that football has taught him much about the power of determination. He also adds with a chuckle that being a goalkeeper, a last line of defense, has taught him about taking responsibility for other peoples’ mistakes.
And of course, he wants to continue playing football.
“If I’m still playing at the time of the World Cup (in 2022), and if I’m doing well, there is a possibility I could be chosen for the squad. That would be a great thing to happen,” he says with a laugh.