From Hanoi to Brandon: Soccer helps Nguyen find a place in his new home

When Huy Nguyen relocated to Canada from his hometown of Hanoi, Vietnam in 2018 at age 16, he did so alone, leaving his family 11,803 kilometres behind, as the crow flies.

After completing high school in Winnipeg, he relocated to Brandon in 2020 to attend Assiniboine Community College’s two-year Business Administration program.

It wasn’t until his second year, when he joined the college’s soccer team as a midfield player, that he said everything finally clicked in place.

It’s through the team that he found a fast group of friends that, even in the midst of a pandemic, has found a way to spend time together on and off the field.

“Sport is the best way to make friends and communicate with people,” said the 18-year-old, adding that the nature of soccer in particular, which requires everyone to work together as a cohesive unit, requires camaraderie and trust.

Supported by his family back home, Nguyen relocated to Manitoba in search of opportunity, first to further his education and ease into Canadian culture and later to establish a career and pursue Canadian citizenship as soon as he’s able.

He chose Assiniboine because of the reputation of its Business Administration program, which is two years in duration, allowing him to enter the workforce as soon as possible. He also selected this field because there are many career prospects in Canada and business is in his family.

His first year was comprised mainly of studying, with little for social interaction due to the COVID-19 pandemic ceasing most opportunities for group gatherings. He’d wanted to play soccer, but the college’s sports programs were similarly hit hard by the global health crisis.

It’s a sport he played with his friends growing up, who’d play games in the fields, usually seven on seven.

“Not in actual tournaments, just with my friends and we’d go to the fields in our free time,” he said. “Most people in Vietnam like soccer. … It is a big thing in Vietnam like hockey is in Canada. It’s an easy game to play with my friends, and we can play anywhere, we just need a ball.”

Joining Assiniboine’s Cougars soccer and futsal teams was an easy decision, he said, and one he has come to see as improving his life in ways he hadn’t anticipated.

“I’ve become a happier person,” Nguyen said of joining the team, adding that prior to joining the team his life consisted primarily of attending class and going home, where he studied, ruminated in the negativity that often clouds social media and chatted with friends back home in Vietnam.

Once more of an extrovert, Nguyen said that he’d become a reluctant introvert despite making some connections in Brandon and even finding a restaurant, Kam Lung Asian Cuisine, whose dishes reminded him of home.

His social life changed for the better when he joined the Cougars.

“I made more friends this year and I go out a lot,” he said. In addition to practices and games, he added, he spends time with friends at dinners and informal gatherings to play video games, chat and watch movies.

He credits his teammates with welcoming him from the very start, even though many of them had a much more established history with one another and in some cases had grown up together.

Nguyen said his mental health has improved, he’s getting out a lot more and as a bonus, he gets to play his favourite sport with a group of close friends.

If not for the sports teams, he said it’s unlikely he would have had such a great opportunity to make friends in Brandon.

The sport itself took some getting used to, as the version of soccer he played back home with his friends didn’t take into account a lot of the rules the Cougars’ soccer and futsal teams play by, but Nguyen said he was a quick learner.

Although he is the only Vietnamese player on Assiniboine’s soccer and futsal teams, Nguyen is one of several international students among their ranks.

The college’s international student body has been growing in recent years, and in the 2019-20 academic year comprised 21 per cent of students in regular certificate and diploma programs.

For Nguyen, the transition to Canada was difficult at first, particularly since it started when he was only 16, but with everything finally coming together socially, he said he’s optimistic looking forward.

Nguyen will complete his studies in March 2022 and said he hopes to see his family fly in from Vietnam to attend his graduation ceremony, if the COVID-related health measures of the day allow for it.

Although he has been working to make a new home for himself in Brandon, he said he still misses his home country, “family dinners and going for food from Vietnam.”

That said, his experience in Brandon has been positive and he hopes to remain in either the Wheat City or Winnipeg to pursue a career in accounting, which Assiniboine’s Business Administration program is setting him up for.