By: Mike Still (@mikestill94)
Mataeo Mohamed is a momma’s boy and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Me and her have the kind of relationship where if I ever need anything I can always talk to her and she’ll always be right there beside me helping me out,” he says.
“But she’s motivated me in ways that are kind of different. She’s not telling me go do you, go be amazing out there, she’s telling me about my attributes and that I’m good at what I do, so working on the positives and not the negatives.”
A rising star on the gridiron, Mohamed has his mom to thank in part for his continued success in the sport.
“I was going to quit my first year actually. The first week we were doing conditioning and I hated running. I was that lazy kid that didn’t want to do anything. But my mom told me to stay in for the first game and I loved it from there.”
An incoming grade ten student at Kildonan East Collegiate, Mohamed has been playing football for six years now. He picked up the sport quickly, earning Player of the Game honours in the 2016 peewee championship for the East Side Eagles at defensive end.
“I was a really big kid back then,” he says humbly of his early success at the minor football level. “I was a bigger guy and I think I was always the fastest on the field so I think it was my speed that was helping me out there.”
While individual success is a nice add on for Mohamed, it’s the ability to channel everything out and simply be on the football field that means the most to him. In learning about his personal life, the prior sentence becomes much more understandable.
Mohamed’s parents split up when he was “seven or eight,” meaning that his mom has been the primary care giver for essentially his whole life. But it hasn’t always been easy. There was a time when the Mohamed family didn’t have a house and had to live with Mataeo’s grandparents. Then, after the family was back on their feet, his mom broke her ankle, then her femur and then her knee.
“Everything’s just kind of been a little bit hectic at every moment. I’ve had to roll with the punches and grow up a little faster than a lot of other kids,” Mohamed says.
“I think it’s helped me in the long run and my family life I wouldn’t have it any other way. My mom is the best person in the world to me.”
Despite her personal struggles, Mohamed’s mom has always been a giver. For the past two years she’s saved up in order to pay for Mataeo’s fees for the U16 program and roughly four months ago adopted two of his older cousins, adding to a household that already includes a younger brother and sister.
“It’s a little hectic everywhere. Everyone has their own room, but everything else is shared. We all have to manage our time pretty well and it’s always kind of yelling and screaming, getting everything out before we’re late for anything. That’s the best way I can describe it. Crazy at all times.”
It’s for this reason that Mohamed is so thankful for what football offers him.
“It’s one of the biggest things to me, because it gives me time to think and it gives me time to go be me. I’m a very concealed person outside of football, but once I step on that field I love talking and being with my friends and having a blast. The sport of football has given me more than I could ever ask for. So even if I don’t go far with it, I’m so grateful for what I’ve gotten from it.”
This fall, Mohamed will make the transition to quarterback as he enters the high school ranks. Considering his maturity, it’s no surprise that he wanted to be the signal-caller for Kildonan East right away.
“A big reason why [the coaches] put me in that position was because I was a leader when I first stepped onto that field for Kildonan East. I’ve just filled that role of leadership and taken it right off the hop.”
The sophomore got his first taste being under centre during spring camp and is looking forward to growing as a quarterback after years as a difference-maker on the other side of the ball. His goal is to make it to the pro ranks in order to, naturally, help support his mother.
“[Playing pro] would mean the world to me. I couldn’t hope for anything else for me and my family.”