AMMAN (Jordan) - Five years can come and go in the blink of an eye. But in that blink of an eye, you can go from playing football in Jordan and never picking up a basketball to suddenly playing at high level in the USA while also representing a nation at the FIBA U18 Asia Cup 2024.
You know, like what Saif Al-Deen Saleh went through.
"You set your goals high and you try to make them reality."
"All my life, I used to play football in Jordan until like eighth grade. I never really picked up a basketball," he revealed. "My parents really like soccer, especially my dad. I've been playing soccer and I picked up a basketball in the eighth grade and that's when COVID happened."
"And so it was difficult to train, but, I loved the game."
"I loved it."
It's easy to see how much he loves the game. You just don't end up leading the Jordan U18 national team in scoring, rebounding, and efficiency by just going through the motions. But it took time Saleh to find his groove with basketball.
"I played on the team, the middle school team but I wasn't good, whatsoever," he admitted. "I just picked up a basketball first year playing and could barely make a layup."
"My high school coaches always make fun of me. They said I had two left feet."
Now, he's making layups with ease as well as other basketball stuff, averaging 20.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game for Jordan. Again, Saleh emphasizes on the love for the game that's driven him here.
"I just improved. You put the work in, you love the game, and that's the most important thing.
You got love for the game, you're gonna put the work in. You're gonna have fun. You're gonna get better and I think that's what everyone needs. You need to love the game."
It's exactly the love for the game, the itch to play wherever possible that led Saleh to this opportunity to represent Jordan. Since picking up the game, he went over to the USA and continued to play and improve his game. Playing for Jordan was still not in the back of his head, not until only recently.
"My uncle actually played on the national team," said Saleh. "So about two years ago, I came here on a vacation with my parents and my family and I needed somewhere to just play," he said. "Just to get to train and get better and to play and really have fun."
"So my dad got me connected with [my uncle]. And he knows the people on the national team and he was like 'Yeah, you can, you can probably play for them'.
"So at that point, it was kind of a realization like, maybe I can, and got more motivation to play even harder."
No one can deny the results. Saleh ended up scoring 1000 points and grabbing 1000 rebounds during his time in high school basketball, gaudy numbers of which Asia basketball fans might want to get accustomed.
Because he's been just as productive here against some of the best young talents in Asia.
"Two years after that, it's a reality [to play for Jordan]. You make your dreams your reality. You set high goals and you reach them."
For youngsters like Saleh, it's important to be able to keep those dreams alive by being able to see those who have actually made it a reality. Watching the senior national team and digging through the video archives has done wonders to feed Saleh's appetite for success.
"My junior year I was watching them playing in the World Cup and watching the highlights of Sam Daghlas," said the up-and-coming forward. "It's cool to take a step in their direction, you know, follow their footsteps."
Even better, he's been able to absorb all of that experience now that he's playing for players who have actually been in the trenches of competitions like World Cups and Asia Cups in U18 head coach Wesam Al-Sous and assistant coach Zaid Abbas.
"I remember watching coach Wesam and a bunch of the men's team players were in the audience, too. Watching on TV, watching them play in the World Cup against the USA, against New Zealand. It's great to learn from them. It's a great experience. It's something that you can't replicate. They've done things and seen things and that I've never done before. So it's cool to learn from them. This is my first tournament, so I'm still learning."
Specially, being able to have direct access to the knowledge of Jordanian legend Zaid Abbas will benefit Saleh whether it's in the short term or the long run. Both players are double-double machines at the forward position, which means there's a lot Saleh can learn from Abbas.
"Of course, I'm always talking to coach Zaid about previous games, future games, during the game. I'm always talking about what I should do. You know, he's always on the bench, right?
"He's like 'Hey, look at this. I've seen this before, this team especially likes doing this'.
"For example, the Philippines, they’re a shooting team. They're a quick shooting team and it was difficult playing them because of how fast and quick they are, especially for our size.
"But, he gave me some tips offensively in the post, getting rebounds, boxing out. He's always giving me tips, use your shoulder, use your elbow, stuff like that."
As you would expect from an Asia Cup legend like Abbas, the tips have been useful as Saleh leads all players in the competition in rebounds after the Group Phase. More than advice on the court, however, is the wisdom imparted on Saleh about proudly representing the country.
"[Coach Wesam's advise], not just me, for our entire team, to be honest, was first, we play for ourselves, then we play for each other, our coaches or teammates, then we play for our families, and we play for the country. We represent millions of people. So everything we do falls back on the people, falls back on the country and it's a big responsibility."
There's a little bit more to it for Saleh, as he also puts the nation on his back when he's in the USA.
"You're representing a country and I'm from New Jersey, big basketball state, so you're representing a country that isn't really a really basketball powerhouse, so you kind of have to represent it well. You have to show correct mannerisms, correct characteristics and represent your country even when you're not playing for your country because everyone sees it like that."
Despite all of the responsibility shoulder on him and his teammates throughout competitions like these, it's always going to be a rare experience.
"It's good. It's cool. It's really cool, to be honest," Saleh said of playing at the U18 Asia Cup. "It's nice having all these fans supporting me and it's even better playing for my country, playing for my teammates, playing for my coaches and representing your country. It's a cool thing that a lot of people can't say they've ever done. It's a really cool experience."
What is even "cooler" is that Jordan has made it through to the Quarter-Finals. They've did an impressive job of going through the Group Phase to beat the Philippines and Indonesia and are beat Qatar in over time to be among the elite eight. It is the first time Jordan have made it to a Quarter-Final round in nearly 30 years with their best campaign prior to this being a bronze medal run in 1995.
Making history awaits for those who make it their dreams, their goals. For Saleh and Co., that's what they've set their eyes on from the start.
"We've talked about this for 2-3 months. Before even, as some of the guys have been here for six months or more since January. I arrived a couple of months ago and we've been training with the team and that's been our goal.
"You set your goals high and you try to make them reality."
"They made the world, that U18 team [in 1995] made the World Cup, the first ever in history. That's just extra motivation for the team. Making history and just play for each other, playing better because we're all in this together."
FIBA