Athletes

The speakers discuss their experiences as religious student-athletes at a secular university. One speaker explains that they wanted to go to a non-religious college to challenge themselves spiritually. The other speaker, who is from Egypt, explains that there are no Muslim-affiliated universities there and they were unaware of the concept. They also talk about the challenges of managing time between athletics, academics, and religious observance, particularly during Ramadan. They mention the importance of community and support from fellow Muslim students. There is also a discussion about the university's support for religious student-athletes in terms of advocating for themselves and managing their schedules. All right. We're back now. So in the first half, we talked a lot about kind of being an athlete and being at school and being religious and trying to merge these religious and athletic identities and working together. So I kind of want to shift the focus a bit to being a student as well and making that decision. So both of you here at a secular university at Penn, did you consider playing sports at a religious-affiliated university and having academics that would kind of have more religion in them as well? And if you did think about that, why did you end up choosing Penn? Yeah. I think I was pretty certain I wanted to go to, you know, not a super religious college because I grew up... I went to public school for elementary school, but for middle school and high school, it was all private Christian, which is great, but they can kind of be like a bubble sometimes and, you know, you can go a whole day and not pray at all and, you know, not find your joy from the Lord and leave the day feeling happy and okay because you're around a lot of people who are full of the Spirit, I'd say, which is kind of a Christian-y thing to say, but full of the Spirit. And so I wanted to be in a place where I felt like I was challenged and would need to... would be in a place where I'd have to depend on the Lord more for my joy and my strength. And so, you know, I figured going to a place like my high school would be kind of the same thing where I can just go about my day and, you know, pray if I want to, read if I want to, but just kind of feed off of the... not that I, you know, I don't get happiness from those who aren't Christian, but I could feel spiritually full having not eaten, you know, Scripture myself or prayed myself, just from others who were, you know, constantly talking about Jesus or constantly praying for, you know, my class or, you know, we'd read like devotions in class before it started. And so I never considered going to a Christian college. Totally. Sia? Um, this is not a thing in Egypt. Wow. So I've never even heard of it until, like, very recent... like, I don't even know if I've heard of it recently or if I'm convincing myself I've heard of it before this, like, before this. Um, so it's just not a thing at all back home. So I... like, I didn't even know about it, but I feel like there aren't Muslim-affiliated universities. Really? I don't know. I've never heard of it. You could start them. I could, I guess. Um, I'm... yeah, as I said, I've never heard of, like, this concept before. We just don't have... we don't have such things in Egypt unless you want to study religion. Like, you'd go to a religious university to study Islam, not to study any... anything else, basically. I'm assuming they don't have sports teams there. No. Yeah, colleges in general don't really have sports teams. So, I didn't know it existed here. Um, if I... if I did know it existed, I don't know what I would have done. Interesting. Yeah, I'm unsure. Um, I don't know if they would have squash either. Yeah. As I said, it's a very, very niche sport. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, it's different for me. It's up there. Uh, now, kind of more in a general sense, how have you guys found the importance of athletics and religious observance and academics? Um, at the end of the day, we're here being students. You take four, five, six classes every semester. It's a big workload. Um, how has that kind of all played together? Yeah. Um, I think time management is so important, as Davis mentioned earlier. Um, it's very hard, but, um, it's one of the most important things. Like, a very big example right now during Ramadan, the day is basically like flipped, right? Yeah. You don't... What time are you waking up? So, I wake up normally every day at like five to three. Sometimes I go back to bed. Sometimes if I have a lot of work to do, I just stay up and keep going the entire day. That's pretty impressive. That's very impressive. As a non-athlete, you tend to wake up at nine, ten, sometimes eleven. Yes. Um, so yeah, I wake up at that time to pray either way, but, um, I personally, this is just a personal thing, I don't like to wake up to eat before I fast. Um, I just eat before I go to bed, and then I go to bed, I wake up to pray, then go back to sleep or continue doing work. But waking up to eat just, personally, just doesn't feel like it's worth it. Even with, you mentioned earlier, the practice. Yeah, even with practice and everything, like I would eat probably from like six PM to one AM, and this would be it. Yeah, that's... You're going to bed at one AM and waking up again at five? Always thinking the same thing. Yes, but I... What? Most of the time, most of the time, I just wake up to pray and then... Go back to bed. Go back to bed most of the time. That's fair. Yeah. Alright, still about four hours, and then... That's insane. That's insane. But then you can, you can nap throughout the day, like... That's fair, that's fair. Yeah. I'd be exhausted. Yeah. And then you have no food in you also. Yeah. Our science, very impressive. Very, very impressive. Very, very impressive. Um, and then how has it kind of felt with, uh, academics as well, to get into classes? I mean, even being able to nap during the day, you still have 12 to 1.30. Yeah, this is, this is very interesting, because tomorrow is, uh, going to be my first class where I have to break fast mid-class, because I have a 5.15 class. Oh. And we break fast at 6 p.m., so it's 5.15 to 8? 15? Yeah, it's a three-hour class. Um, so it's, it's going to be very interesting. It's a very small class, it's Zulu. It's, it's a very small class, um, it's only like 15 of us, and four of us are Muslims. Oh, so you'll be breaking together? Yes, but, I mean, I guess we'll have to let our professor know beforehand that we're fasting. We'll need to, like, get some time to eat in between. Um, but yeah, other than that one class, um, it's, it's definitely challenging. It's definitely challenging. You have to find, I think, every single extra minute you're, you're using it. Like today, until 10, 10 minutes before practice, I was, like, on my iPod writing notes, just, like, taking notes, studying, and then once it was time to, like, start warming up 10 or 15 minutes earlier, um, I let it down, and then I started warming up. Once it was over, I quickly showered, and then got back to whatever I was studying and taking notes, and then came here. And then, it's a lot of time management. I think you have to be very on top of it, and you have to be very mindful of, um, your time and your priorities. Um, I think those are very important. And sleep as well, sometimes. What does breaking fast look like? Is that just, like, you eat at the same time, or is there sort of, like, a ritual? Breaking fast means you're allowed to eat, drink, you're allowed to do anything you weren't allowed to do while fasting. Um, so, yeah, normally you, um, break fast on, like, uh, you know dates? Yeah, yeah. On, like, a date, or you break fast on, like, a date, or, like, two, or three, right? Um, and then you drink some water, preferably. The time you break fast is actually the time of a prayer. So, when that prayer, yes, exactly. So, when that prayer calls, you're good to break fast. So, in an ideal world, where you have all the time, you'd break your fast on, like, a, like, some dates, and then you get, like, a cup of water. You'd go pray that prayer. You'd come back, have a good meal. You'd take some time to do whatever you want, just some free time, and then you'd eat again, and then the day keeps going. The day keeps going. So, do you break it at that time, because you're supposed to, or, like, could you decide not to, and then wait, and then finish the class, and then? No, you could wait. It's just because you haven't eaten in a long time. Exactly. You do get pretty hungry. Yeah, that makes sense. No, but you could wait if you want. Yeah. Um, so, you mentioned, you know, a few other students in this class are also Muslim, and how a lot of the squash team is also Muslim. Uh, how has this community been for you, um, of people who have similar schedules, it sounds like? It's been, honestly, very important during this time of the year, and just generally, right? Um, during this time of the year, as I said, um, well, we all, like, break fast at the same time, so you know everyone is eating at this time. You know, like, an hour or 30 minutes before breaking fast, everyone is, like, dead. You really don't want to reach out. Yeah. Or try to really, I don't know, provoke them in any way. Hangry. Yeah, yeah, they're pretty hangry, including myself. Um, so, it's, they've been, they've been a lot of, like, support, and they've been, um, they've just been, they make you feel, like, home, in a great way. And then later, you go to prayer together, um, that is, that only specifically happens in Ramadan, um, and so also that sense of community, with the squash prayers, and then with all the Muslims you get to meet at the prayer, it makes you feel, like, you're really not alone, and you wouldn't expect to see that many Muslims, like, at Penn, but you get to know and meet so many people that you would have never met if you just didn't go to that prayer, or didn't reach out about, like, organizing, breaking fast together, or something like that. Totally. I'm glad the community is here for it to be strong. Um, and then, the last question that I have for you guys, uh, kind of has to do with the overarching role of the university in your role as student-athletes, and more specifically as religious student-athletes. Um, do you think that there is the proper channels involved, um, that are set up for you guys to be able to advocate for yourselves, um, when you need some help, x, y, z, with, uh, planning for class, and school, and religious observance, um, are there people at the university to help you with that kind of stuff? Um, how has this kind of affected your role as a student-athlete back then? Yeah, when I was planning, we had a chaplain who would come and give, like, a, a pre-game, it wasn't a sermon, kind of like a little pre-game talk, and he kept it very open, it was more, uh, like a reflective time, you know, like, how do you feel you would do, and how were your emotions, how was your mindset, it wasn't very, uh, Christian, if you will, but I, I mean, I don't think that it, it should have been a sermon, because it's, you know, a, a full team of a lot of different beliefs and backgrounds, and, um, yeah, I felt like a few, you know, you know, for me, I never really went to, to the, uh, Christian resources for the football team, but there, I know a lot of guys who would go to this Bible study with the chaplain whose, his name is Father Remy, and I've heard a lot of good things about that. Oh, in the Newman Center? Yeah, the Newman Center. And this was just before soccer and football? No, I think it was a lot of athletes who'd go. Any Christian, I mean, specifically Catholics, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, yeah. But there were, uh, there were non-Catholic guys there, too, but I know we've gone to that. They're actually going on a mission trip this summer, which is pretty cool, so they've become a tight group, so I know there are a lot of great resources if you want, if you want those through the football team. Me, personally, I've found more of my community from my church and the Bible study from that, and there's also, uh, the FCA, is a big thing, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. That's beautiful. Yeah, so you have community from, you know, all different sports who are all Christians, and, you know, they meet weekly, and, uh, you, uh, you split up in groups and talk about how you can relate your faith to your sport, and, you know, share stories and, uh, different testimonies, which is pretty great. I went there a good bit last year, and it was awesome. That's nice to hear that they have that. Mm-hmm. Um, I'd say I, as part of this team, have not been introduced to, like, religious resources. Mm-hmm. In general, I think, I don't, I've, I don't remember, um, either from, like, a person from, like, any religion, um, coming over to our team or introducing some type of resource or support, um, that is religiously related. So I don't think it's, I don't think it's specifically Islam or Muslim. I, I just don't remember someone like that at all or this type of support being provided. Um, however, I mean, that relates to your previous question about community. I just feel like, like, community and a good group of people that have been helping me and, um, I think we're just all helping one another. But regarding a resource or, like, some type of support from the school, I don't think that person was introduced to us. Therefore, I don't know. If it exists. That's so fair. Well, I'm glad either way Um, on that note, I wanted to say thank you guys for joining me here. Um, I hope that your voice as religious student-athletes, um, especially as you were saying, you haven't really seen many hijabi squash players, um, I hope someone can hear this and feel empowered by you and your words. And David, same with you. Um, I think that there's a lot of people who will find a lot of solace and a lot of meaning in your religious journey in football. Thank you. Thank you guys both for joining.