HAMPTON, Va. — In 6th grade, Belma Tihic remembers being the only girl on her travel soccer team.
“There was not a girls’ team and they saw that I was good, so they were like, 'We’re going to take her that’s fine,'" she recalled. "Playing with boys, there’s more competition. It’s definitely more technical with more speed involved.”
Better yet, she was named Captain by her teammates and coaches.
“I was Captain of the team in the midfield, so I definitely got a different experience.”
Five years later, the junior is now Captain of the Bethel girls’ varsity team and is one of the top scorers in the state. According to Max Preps, her 51 goals are the most of any player in Virginia this season and through her three seasons with the Bruins, she’s racked up 127 career goals.
“She broke the school record when she was a freshman so that tells you something right there with how special she is," said Bethel head coach William Nicoletti. “She improved every year, and her goal count has gone up each year.”
Belma said there’s not a lot of thinking involved when she takes the field, just doing.
“I’m just me on the field I don’t worry about what anyone else thinks. I just have that confidence in me.”
Some of that confidence stems from thriving on an all-boys team but also from her siblings.
“I’ve just been playing with my brother and sister from a really young age. I remember in the backyard just playing and being competitive against one another.”
Many of those memories come from her family’s trips to Bosnia, where much of her extended family still resides.
“Soccer is the biggest sport over there and I’m proud to carry that with me, where I’m from. It’s a big part of my identity.”
And she continues to make more family memories at Bethel with her dad who is also the Bruins assistant coach.
“For our family, it’s big,” said her father, Bobbie. “We love soccer, especially being from Europe we’re all about soccer. I mean we like other sports, but soccer is number one to us and we are very happy to see Belma progress and do so well.”
