While Chapel Hill High School men’s and women’s soccer teams both won state championships this year, a local Karen soccer team, Kwe Ka Baung, has made a name for itself.
Kwe Ka Baung, formed in 2012 and featuring two Chapel Hill High students, is a soccer team made up of Karen refugees whose families have immigrated from Burma. The team is named after a mountain in Burma that has a personal connection to these players.
“[Kwe Ka Baung] has cultural significance to us back in Burma; it’s where most of our team’s ancestors lived,” senior Eh Ser Thaw said.
Thar Thwai is a coach, organizer and player for Kwe Ka Baung. He graduated from Catawba College with a Bachelor of Science and majored in Sport Management after playing four years of soccer for Catawba College.
The Kwe Ka Baung team practices two to three times a week, often at the Hooker soccer fields on the University of North Carolina campus. “Our practices are fun but competitive. Since everyone is tired from school and work, we try to play as much as we can, and, of course, there is always a punishment for the losing team, whether is it a fitness stuff or some funny thing that we agree to do,” Thwai said.
Their first tournament in 2018 will be in New Bern on June 2 and 3, which will host about six to eight Karen soccer teams.
The Kwe Ka Baung players take pride in their success over the past few years. “We’ve won tournaments in 2017, some in 2016, and our first tournament win was in 2015,” Thaw said.
Every year there is a tournament in Huron, South Dakota, where Karen teams nationwide gather to play each other. “It is a tournament for soccer, but it is also a place where we meet with old friends from the refugee camps whom we haven’t seen since we parted,” Thwai said. “It is a far drive, but it is worth the experience.”
Chapel Hill High School freshman Tha Lwe plays with Kwe Ka Baung, as well as the varsity men’s soccer team. “Kwe Ka Baung is more relaxed and fun than high school soccer. We come together to play soccer and hang out. When we go to tournaments, we have fun and try to win prize money,” Tha Lwe said.
Kwe Ka Baung has competed in a tournament with a prize as high as $10,000, though the team did not come out on top.
