Soccer team wins international tournament with star Navajo goalie, Begay awarded best goalkeeper against some of the top athletes in the world

WINDOW ROCK
In early June, the Utah Avalanche Soccer Club played at the Barcelona Girls Cup international tournament in Spain.

The US team, consisting of some of the best young female players in the country, was the undefeated champion in their category and critical to their success was their Diné goalkeeper, Miya Begay.

“It was the best trip I’ve ever been on,” Begay said. “It [Spain] felt so welcoming there and I felt comfortable, almost like home. The food was amazing and I was able to talk to other girls on different teams, exchanging jerseys and friend-ing them on social media, it was the best.

“They showed us respect and we showed them respect, too.”

This was Begay’s first time traveling abroad; she felt some nervousness but was mostly excited for this opportunity.

Begay is Hashk’ąąn Hadzohí, born for Tábąąhí. Her maternal grandfather is Tł’ízí Łání, and paternal grandfather is Táchii’nii.

She is an incoming junior and goes to school at Copper Hills High in West Jordon, Utah.

She has been playing soccer since the age of 5 and loves every moment of it. She’s played in soccer clubs in Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, sometimes having to travel over an hour to reach practice when she used to live on the reservation.

“What I enjoy about soccer is it keeps my mind off of stuff and when I play soccer it’s like I’m in a dream or something, but the best part of it is you just get to play and you just have fun,” she said.

She recently joined the Avalanche team, which is a Premier 1 and Elite 64 team, a league that only chooses the best players in the nation. This past season, the team went undefeated in their E64 Showcase tournaments in Florida and Arizona.

Their invitation to the Barcelona Girls Cup on June 8-9 was rare and, according to Begay, the team was excited to go.

Begay had to fundraise in order to travel, but she was successful and thanks everyone who helped her on her way.

The tournament was held for two days, so for the rest of the week, the team spent time visiting landmarks in Barcelona and going shopping and visiting the beach.

Begay is quite passionate about soccer and felt a closeness with the locals, as the sport is popular for the rest of the world.

Begay said there were no issues on the trip. The only bump was when someone on the US team would use the word “soccer” instead of “football,” which earned them odd looks from the residents.

When the tournament started, each member on the Avalanche team was allowed to introduce themselves and say where they were from. Begay made sure to let everyone know she was Diné.

The Avalanche club won the overall tournament in their G06 Group B category with six shut out games making their way to the finals. The team won four pool play matches, with Begay denying their opponents a single score.

“We did pretty good,” Begay said. “There was no goals scored against me, I had a clean sheet and I owe it all to my defense and with my communication with them. They helped keep the ball away from the goal.”

They played against European teams from Spain, Finland and Scotland, and they also got to meet other teams from countries like France, Germany and Ireland.

Begay said there were some nerves facing some of the best athletes in the world, but she treated each match like any other game back home.

The referees all spoke in Spanish which threw the team off at first, but the girls knew the rules and were able to adapt, learning a few Spanish phrases along the way.

In the semi-finals, Avalanche won 3-0 against the Finish team HJK before finishing the tournament with another 3-0 win against Catalonia’s UD Viladecans.

In every match, not a goal was made against the US team thanks to their goalie, Begay. At the end of the tournament, Begay was given a trophy for best goalkeeper.

“It felt like the best thing that ever happened to me, I felt like it was just like me against the world when I was holding that trophy,” Begay said.

Begay said she and the team felt grateful to have had this opportunity to play on an international stage and get to represent their country, while Begay also represented her tribe.

She learned a lot from other people’s cultures, learned a bit of different languages and met new people.

They celebrated their win with a visit to a local portside theme park that Begay said was very fun.

Her parents, Roxanne and Damon Begay, were happy their daughter had a good time. Although they were nervous for her traveling to another country, they knew this was what she wanted and supported her.

They were able to see some of the games when it was live stream, which usually happened around 3 a.m. local time.

“She really enjoyed it. The people the culture, everything she just said just felt like home for some reason,” Roxanne said.

Both parents were proud that not only did team Avalanche win their tournament category, but Begay also won recognition for best goalkeeper.

“It was a really good feeling,” Roxanne said. “She left here a few days before and she knew that they were giving out that trophy and that’s kind of where she had her mindset ‘I’m gonna get that trophy.’

“And when she got it, she couldn’t believe it and she was really happy and just said, ‘I did it, I actually did it.’”

Begay has a dream of someday becoming a pro-soccer player and getting a degree in sports medicine and becoming a coach.

She is disappointed that soccer isn’t a common sport on the Navajo Nation (part of the reason why she had to play in other states), but she hopes she can inspire other Navajo kids to try the sport if they get the chance.

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