Spring Lake Park siblings Gabe and Laila Bensaad-Johnson credit their father and long-time coach, Jayce, for developing their soccer smarts. But their mother, Nawal, deserves an assist for helping grow her children's love of the sport.
She was born in Morocco, located in northwest Africa with coastline on both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Summer visits exposed Gabe and Laila to a skilled, stripped-down version of soccer that made a lasting impression.
The siblings headed with a few cousins down to the beach, where they would jump into pickup games that lasted hours.
"You make goals out of whatever you find, shirts, seaweed, anything," Laila said. "It made me work on developing skills that I use now. And my passion for soccer became greater."
Said Gabe: "That just gets you back to the roots of the game. It reminds you to love playing wherever you are."
Both bring passion to their Panthers teams. Laila is a freshman midfielder/forward in her second season of varsity action. Gabe, a senior forward, earned an all-state honorable mention citation last season.
Gabe's place among the state's top players was never assured. Skilled but undersized, he trailed his peers until midway through his sophomore year.
"I was smaller back then, maybe weaker, and I didn't really keep up physically," Gabe said. But he has grown and "learned how to be more physical and assert myself more," he said.
