Gallery • 5 Photos

Hcrew Pics

The Sidekick sports photography editor/sports social media manager Naila Ali and senior staff photographer Karen Mascarenhas takes photos at the football game against Arlington Bowie on Sept. 11 at Buddy Echols field. Ali reflects on her goals in life and her new path into sports media. Photo courtesy of Hcrew Pics

“I wanna be a pediatrician.”

That is all I can remember since I could talk. That is what I said when someone asked the dreaded question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” 

For years, I chased the ‘perfect’ child archetype: the doctor or lawyer a Desi parent could brag about at dinner parties.

But beneath the pressure to be the perfect child for my parents, there was a different pulse: Sports.

I was always committed to being an athlete. Senior on varsity, letterman jacket, the whole Texas All-American high school dream. Finding a family in my team, going to college for sports; although my parents thought I was insane. I believed the only way to belong in sports was to be the player; or nothing at all.

Then came sports photography for The Sidekick. I had won awards in middle school for yearbook, but I never took it seriously. Then I filled in for a baseball game when a photographer canceled.

I took a Canon R10 camera and lens, praying I got something good. I didn’t know anything about baseball. Innings? No, strike? No, outs? No. All I knew was what my friends still joke about now: “Throw ball, hit ball, run fast.”

But I had more fun than expected.

After that I pushed for any game I could. I got better at shooting, but seeing moments before they happened. I felt more comfortable in spaces I watched from the outside. It didn’t go unnoticed, I started gaining respect from coaches across programs, and something clicked.

As the year ended, I was named The Sidekick’s 2025-2026 sports photography editor/sports social media manager.

As fall rolled around I started working football and volleyball while still playing soccer. I went from school to practice until 5 p.m., then drove 45 minutes to a 7 p.m. football game, shot, went home, uploaded, edited, slept and woke up at 8 a.m.for work. The schedule consumed me, but it was doable. Until it wasn’t.

The exhaustion stopped feeling temporary. It showed up in my grades, my energy and how I carried myself. I felt lost, but didn’t know what to change.

Then I got injured mid-season: a fractured thumb. Small on the outside, but as a goalkeeper, it took away my outlet completely. The shift was obvious. I was quieter, more irritated, and for the first time, I went through practice completely silent, not just not talking, but not fully present either. 

I became a ghost of myself but got up and said I was fine like usual.

My coach, Wendy Flaherty, had other plans. She pulled me aside and said something that stayed with me. I was stretched thin across everything I cared about, but I wasn’t taking care of myself in any of it. She showed me soccer wasn’t my stress relief. The real outlet was pouring into others and watching them succeed, and when I went quiet. I stopped without realizing it.

I thought the only way to earn that pride was through a stethoscope. But recently, the bragging changed. It wasn’t about a grade in biology, it was about a printed photo. They finally saw what I saw: I didn’t rewrite my whole story, I just made a new way to read it.

Now, I’m with The Sidekick, a place that gave me the chance to create my own team on the sidelines. Chasing moments around the ball. The ones most people miss. The ones I used to be inside of.

And I wouldn’t trade that view for anything.

My heart is still a mosaic, built from everything life, sports and family has given me. I just see it more clearly from the sidelines.

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