Basil Eltayar Didn't Know Football. Almost Quit. Now Can't Get Enough
When Basil Eltayar arrived in Windsor three years ago from Saudi Arabia, he didn't speak English and had never seen a football game in his life.
"I used to watch it on TikTok," the Grade 11 Holy Names student says of his first exposure to the sport, back home. "I'm like, what is this weird sport that people just keep hitting each other?"
A first year senior, Eltayar admits the transition wasn't easy, and he nearly walked away before it really started.
"First day of football, I was gonna quit because it was so hard," he said. Having grown up playing organized soccer in Saudi Arabia, the running demanded at tryouts caught him off guard. "The coach was making us run too much. I was like, you know what, man? I'm not dealing with this. My body was sore."
It was his new teammates who talked him into staying.
"My friends, they were like, 'Basil, you have to build for it,'" he said. "And I'm like, you know what? I'll give it a couple of days. And here we are."
Those few days turned into a full commitment to the sport. Eltayar worked his way through JV where he helped his team win a championship last season. He contributed a touchdown in their season opening win over L'Essor.
His coach, Dan Hogan, has watched the transformation up close.
"He needs to excel out here, but he put the work in," Hogan said. "He was at the weight room every single day. It's very refreshing to see these young men see the product of their work."
Hogan points to Eltayar's growth as part of a bigger picture, a program built on players from a wide range of backgrounds buying into the same system.
"There's a lot of diversity, and we've got people from all walks of life here, and they all come in and buy into the same system, treated the same way, work hard the same way," he said.
He has also become a full-fledged fan of the NFL game he once found puzzling on his phone screen in Saudi Arabia.
"I never thought that I would play the sport," he said. "But thank God I got put to the sport. Keep it going, man."
Season Opener:
The Holy Names Knights opened the 2026 season with a bang against L'Essor beating Les Aigles 54-0.
Izzy Oluwatuyi and Lucien Wavila each scored two touchdowns while Carter Anivley, Nolan Gibson and Basil Eltayar found the endzone for the Knights.
Alonso Staci made five extra points and hit a field goal while Lucien StaJanos kicked the other two extra points.
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