{"id":97631,"date":"2024-01-20T07:59:16","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T06:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/?p=97631"},"modified":"2024-01-19T17:08:52","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T16:08:52","slug":"from-humble-beginnings-to-hoops-glory-zine-eddine-bedris-journey-to-columbia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/en\/from-humble-beginnings-to-hoops-glory-zine-eddine-bedris-journey-to-columbia\/","title":{"rendered":"From humble beginnings to hoops glory: Zine Eddine Bedri\u2019s journey to Columbia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Growing up in Algeria, Bedri went from picking up a basketball for the first time at 10 to later playing at the Division I level.<\/h3>\n
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Zine Eddine \u201cZinou\u201d Bedri knew that the best was yet to come after a\u00a0rough start<\/a>\u00a0to his first-year season. The sophomore forward held onto his optimism\u2014the very mindset that helped him when he left his home of Tebessa, Algeria at the age of 15 to continue his hoop dreams in the United States.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For the 2022-23 season opener, Bedri and a young, inexperienced Columbia men\u2019s basketball team traveled to Jersey Mike\u2019s Arena. Playing in front of 8,000 people against a Rutgers program projected to be top 50 in the country was already a daunting task for a first-year\u2019s inaugural collegiate game. Adding to the pressure, head coach Jim Engles had tapped Bedri for the starting lineup. The Algerian native responded how he always had in the face of adversity: He decided to make the most of the opportunity he was given.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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And make the most of it he did. In the 23 minutes he played, Bedri led the team in scoring with 8 points along with five rebounds and one assist in a game that resulted in a devastating blowout defeat\u2014Columbia lost by 40 points. While his performance was solid for any college basketball player against a program like Rutgers, Bedri made it known in his postgame interview that he was hungry for more.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe outcome was not what we wanted it to be. \u2026 It was good to be out there with my family, my teammates, and just play,\u201d Bedri said. \u201cAs a team, I think we\u2019re only gonna get better from here and as a player, too, I\u2019m only gonna get better and things will be fine.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Just one season later, the Lions began the 2023-24 campaign with one of the best starts in the program\u2019s recent history. With a 9-4 record going into conference play\u2014the most wins in non-conference play since 2015\u2014Columbia men\u2019s basketball has already passed last season\u2019s win total with a little more than two months of basketball left to play. This rapid turnaround has surprised some followers of Ivy League basketball, but not Bedri.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s all about the work that I put in,\u201d Bedri said. \u201cIt was a tough loss at Rutgers, but I didn\u2019t care. I knew if I kept doing what I was doing, I\u2019m gonna get rewarded for it at some point, and then from a team standpoint, it is the same thing.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Bedri\u2019s resilience and confidence come from his upbringing. Growing up in Tebessa, Bedri spent a lot of time around his family. He cherished the summers of his childhood when he would go to his grandparents\u2019 house and spend time with his cousins. Due to his father\u2019s busy work schedule, Bedri adapted to the role of caretaker for his younger brother and sister early on. When he did have free time, Zinou would meet up with his friends and play street soccer.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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At around 10 years old, Bedri\u2019s height caught the attention of a few of his closest friends at the time\u2014Yanis, Moumen, and Abederrahman. They convinced him to play basketball with them at their local school club team, and Bedri was instantly hooked.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI just stopped playing [soccer] because \u2026 I got too tall. And then [my friends] were like, \u2018Oh, you should be a goalie,\u2019 whatever. I didn\u2019t like that,\u201d Bedri said. \u201cThey kind of convinced me, they were like, \u2018Yeah, just come with us [to basketball], it\u2019s gonna be fun. You\u2019re tall, you\u2019re probably gonna be good at it.\u2019 So I kind of just did it to be with my friends, for real, and from the first time I kind of just fell in love with it.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Despite the late start to his basketball career, Bedri\u2019s talent and hard work helped him catch up. With a late growth spurt around the age of 16 that left him near 6-foot-7, the Tebessa native found the game more and more enjoyable. However, the playing conditions in his home country were very different from those in the United States.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe don\u2019t have the same opportunities back home. Facilities are not as nice. We used to play outside [on] outside courts and you know, if you fall down, that\u2019s very painful,\u201d Bedri said. \u201cIf it rains, we can\u2019t play, game is canceled. \u2026 If it\u2019s too cold, game is canceled, stuff like that. So it was definitely a little bit of a struggle.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Through determination, Bedri became one of the best youth players in Algeria, earning the notice of former Algerian professional basketball player Mounir Benzegala, who has played for the Algerian national team. The two first met when Benzegala began training him, and he soon became like \u201ca second father\u201d to Zinou, according to his father, Abdelkrim Bedri.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI was wrapping up my career and wanted to start just helping student-athletes internationally get a chance to study in the US,\u201d Benzegala said. \u201cFunny enough, one of my teammates was like, \u2018There\u2019s this kid who\u2019s like [6-foot-7], 13 years old. But I don\u2019t think his father wants him to leave.\u2019\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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After hearing that Zinou\u2019s father did not want his son leaving his home for the United States, Benzegala was almost ready to move on to another young prospect. However, he realized that Zinou had three characteristics that he had rarely seen combined in players he had coached.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cUsually when you get a tall and intelligent kid \u2026 he\u2019s usually not very hard working. Just in general, it\u2019s hard to get all three of those,\u201d Benzegala said. \u201cI would say that really separated him and that\u2019s why he got better.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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After many conversations, Benzegala finally convinced Zinou\u2019s father that the United States would be the best place for his son to take advantage of academic opportunities. Bedri would compete at Spring Creek Academy in Plano, Texas\u2014a prep school where Benzegala was slated to coach.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/p>\n
Photo by\u00a0Courtesy of Zine Eddine Bedri\u00a0<\/a>\/ Zine Eddine Bedri<\/div>\n
Zinou pictured above with his father, Abdelkrim Bedri and mother, Houda Amrani<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Despite the appeal of the opportunities in the United States, Bedri and his family still found it difficult for the teenager to move over 4,000 miles away.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe first world, as we call it in our country, is to move to other customs and another approach to living away from his parents and his family, and we are very attached to the family,\u201d Abdelkrim Bedri wrote in a statement to Spectator, \u201cBut there was a dream for our son to be a famous basketball player. After thinking carefully, his mother and I made the decision based on what we thought was correct.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cIn order for Zinou to achieve his dream, we tried to overcome our very great fear for him,\u201d Bedri\u2019s mother, Houda Amrani, wrote in a statement to Spectator. \u201cHe was always responsible for himself, even when he was young, but now he has become mature and more responsible for himself, and I trust his decisions and love him very much and always.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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At 16, Bedri traveled by himself to the United States, barely fluent in English. He stayed with Benzegala\u2019s family during the summer, and the two worked out together in preparation for his first prep basketball season in the United States. Through living together, Benzegala started to see Zinou as family.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cHe was very thoughtful with my children when he was around my kids. And that’s not really the quality of many teenagers,\u201d Benzegala said. \u201cHe\u2019s just extremely loyal. Till this day now, he\u2019s an alumni, and he\u2019s concerned about how the program grows and continues and how he can help.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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By the time the basketball season arrived, Bedri\u2019s sacrifice was rewarded. He averaged 10.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 1 assist per game in his first high school season. Over the next three years, Zinou not only led the Spartans to a Texas Christian Athletic League state championship, but also finished his career with a near 13-point average per game. While his impact was certainly felt on the court, Benzegala was more impressed with how he carried himself in other settings.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For Zinou, a unique sequence of circumstances helped him pursue his dream\u2014however, many others like him in Algeria are not so lucky. According to Benzegala, a large portion of the country is college-aged, but many aspiring athletes are unknown to scouts.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In 2018, the NBA opened a basketball training center in Senegal to increase exposure for young talents throughout Africa. Efforts like these increase opportunities, but much more is needed to make playing at a higher level accessible. Like Benzegala, Zinou eventually wants to give back to the country he came from. But for now, he is focused on his own trajectory.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cRight now, I\u2019m just focused on working as hard as I can to reach the highest levels of basketball possible,\u201d Zinou said. \u201cSo, after that, I will be able to give \u2026 back to my community and do similar things or even better things. Why not?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Source : https:\/\/www.columbiaspectator.com\/sports\/2024\/01\/17\/from-humble-beginnings-to-hoops-glory-zine-eddine-bedris-journey-to-columbia\/<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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