Every student athlete has a story about how they got to Harding. Some have parents who attended, some have grown up in Searcy around the Harding atmosphere for most of their life, and some have had youth ministers or other mentors come here. But the story of junior midfielder Van Thang is a little different than most.<\/p>\n
Thang came to Harding from Lewisville, Texas, a town about 50 minutes northwest of Dallas. Thang, however, is originally from the small country of Burma, located in the southeastern part of Asia. Before coming to America, Thang had to go through the immigration paperwork in Malaysia before arriving in the United States in 2007.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was born in Burma and lived there until I was 12,\u201d Thang said. \u201cMy family decided to come to America to pursue better education for us. We came over here as refugees.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1962, the Burmese military took over the country, making it a single-party socialist country. The country has been under a liberalization process since 2010, and they swore in their first president in March of this year, making it the first democratically elected government since the military coup in 1962.<\/p>\n
Thang said that soccer has been a big part of his life ever since he was a child in Burma.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was in Burma, I loved playing soccer, because soccer and volleyball were really the only sports people play in Burma,\u201d Thang said. \u201cSometimes we would forget to eat dinner or we would get in trouble for being out late because we were always playing soccer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming to America as a refugee, Thang had a little trouble adjusting to his new life in the states. The language barrier made things difficult at first. However, he was able to use soccer as a way to make friends and adjust to this new world he was now a part of.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first few days of school were kind of sad,\u201d Thang said. \u201cThe teacher would keep asking me questions, but I couldn\u2019t speak English. So when I would speak, the class would laugh and make fun of my voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI later moved to another school in sixth grade, and it was a lot easier to adjust. I started playing soccer, and I was able to learn English through soccer and the friends I made because of soccer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thang was recruited by former head coach of the men\u2019s soccer team, Odie Guzman, who once also attended Lewisville High School.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy high school coach also coached coach (Odie) when he was in high school,\u201d Thang said. \u201cSo our coach contacted (Odie) and told him that he had a Burmese kid who he thought should try out for Harding. I had never even heard of Harding until then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Current head coach Jon Ireland recently completed his first year of coaching the men\u2019s team and won the first conference championship in the program\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Even though Ireland didn\u2019t recruit Thang to Harding, he credits a lot of the team\u2019s success this season to his work ethic and strong leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is one of the hardest workers on our team by far,\u201d Ireland said. \u201cIn a lot of ways, he has been the heart and soul of our team this year. He embodies everything that we want in terms of work ethic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ireland added that he believes Thang\u2019s strong work ethic can be partly traced back to his past, and having to learn to adjust to a new life after leaving his home in Burma to come to America.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith (Thang), you can tell that his background has definitely shaped who he is,\u201d Ireland said. \u201cHe is willing to do the things a lot of guys aren\u2019t willing to do, and he\u2019s just happy to have an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thang says that he likes to take the time to reflect on his time at Harding, and he feels blessed to have come from a small country in Southeast Asia to Arkansas where he can receive a quality education while playing the sport he loves.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarding has been such a huge blessing for me,\u201d Thang said. \u201cI am really lucky to be here because I don\u2019t think there is a better place to be than Harding.\u201d<\/p>\n
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