According to rahyafte (the missionaries and converts website):Malak Aiad has never had much trouble making the team.
She spent her summers playing soccer in youth leagues across the GTA and is currently a member of the varsity rugby team at McMaster University.
But it wasn’t until this summer, when she joined the Muslimah Athletic Association to play in their Division A soccer league, that she finally felt like she belonged in sport.
“As you get into more competitive leagues as you get older, the diversity really decreases,” said Aiad, who plays on team Messi-ssauga.
“Team culture in sports is alcohol-based, and a lot about partying … and for some time I was looking for a team and group of girls where I could be true to myself,” said Aiad. “I found that here.”
The Greater Toronto Area has seen a significant increase in the number of sports leagues catering to Muslim women over the past two years, giving them the opportunity to play recreational sports in an environment focused on community as much as competition.
Several leagues also provide Muslim women with a female-only environment where athletes who prefer to adhere to modesty rules can play in comfort with others who can relate. Some women may wear a head scarf, for example, while others may prefer an environment that discourages profanity and trash talk. Others want a league that understands the importance of prayer breaks, or simply a non-judgmental place to learn something new.
“The leagues are open to everyone, but one of the requirements is that people follow Islamic guidelines, which can entail the way teams speak to each other, the way people talk to refs, or the dress code,” said Zainab Gajani, one of the organizers of Muslimah Athletic Association, which launched in April 2022. “This is the kind of place that if you fall down, everyone will stop the game and come over to pick you up. Everyone’s competitive, but they are here to build that sisterhood.”
Aiad said she first heard about the league through the Instagram page of Hijabi Ballers, one of the first organizations in Toronto to promote Muslim women in sport.
Amreen Kadwa, founder and executive director of Hijabi Ballers, said the group’s goal is to connect people, but it has also run clinics, tournaments and unique programs, like paddle boarding, for young Muslim women.
Kadwa said most of the dozen or so organized sports leagues in the GTA catering to Muslim women are relatively new and have launched post-COVID. Some are registered non-profits, while others operate as businesses, and some are just grassroots groups, she said.
Various sports
The variety of sports has also shifted from conventional leagues, like basketball and soccer, to include paddle boarding, boxing and dragon boat racing.
Kadwa’s group is launching an app called Hijabi Ballers Community App, which aims to connect Muslim women — in the GTA and around the world — to sports opportunities in their respective cities and allow them to share their sports journeys with others.
“We hope to create a unified sense of community for all Muslim girls and women in sport — a true sense of belonging where they don’t feel excluded from a certain sport, or don’t feel intimidated to take part in a certain sport program,” she said.
Muslim women — in particular, those who wear hijabs — have long fought for equality and access to sport. Over the years, many athletes have challenged rules and regulations that have limited their involvement. For some, though, roadblocks still exist. Earlier this year, a court in France upheld a ruling allowing the country’s football federation to ban head scarves in competitions, even though FIFA allows women to compete at the international level with them.
The idea of a community centred on sport compelled Maryam Dadabhoy to create Mississauga-based Sisterhood Softball in 2016. She said the idea came to her as she sat in the stands watching her husband play in the Brotherhood Softball League, which he had recently launched.
“Our official motto is ‘Sisterhood before softball,’” said Dadabhoy. In its first season, it organized pickup softball with approximately two dozen women. Over the years, demand for a space on the roster has grown, and this year’s summer session features 12 teams with 12 players, she said, and an extensive wait-list.
A second branch of the league launched in Durham region last year with four teams. In a year, the number of teams has doubled.
The popularity of the league, Dadabhoy said, stems from the value women are finding on and off the field.
A means to overcome individual, social challenges
“The best stories are about the women who come back year after year to play, even though they may not be the most athletic. Or the mom who is going through postpartum, or a woman going through a divorce, or going through grief — and are using this community and sport as a therapeutic way to overcome challenges,” she said, adding that many team members become friends and socialize beyond game time. “We never realized this was something that was missing in our lives.”
Dadabhoy said she’s pleased that despite all the leagues popping up for different sports, several actually have wait-lists — reflecting the untapped demand in the community.
Gajani said she initially joined her friend Salma Abu Hattab to start the athletic association after moving to Toronto from Calgary because she was “looking for like-minded friends and a community” in a new city.
But soon, Gajani said, they realized the demand was more than they could handle through a volunteer organization.
Gajani, who now runs Muslimah Athletic Association full-time, said the organization has grown quickly in just a year — from one soccer league to more than 400 athletes taking part in various sports, including soccer, volleyball, basketball, boxing and dragon boat racing.
“I was surprised at the turnout and that women were willing to commit to coming out for a few hours every weekend,” said Gajani. “But I think that just goes to show that they didn’t have this opportunity.”
Despite the demand, there are some challenges in creating an all-female sports environment. She said finding female-only facilities can be difficult, as well as finding experienced women referees.
Mohammed Diwan, one of three founders of the Muslimah Volleyball Association, said they launched the Scarborough-based league to give women more choice in sport. Unlike mainstream leagues, he said, it gives women extra court time after a game for the players to practise, and it has referees who offer training to newbies.
For some women, the leagues are a place to try a new sport for the first time.
Khadija Atcha is starting with the dragon boat racing team this summer. She will learn about rowing “without the fear of judgment.”
She’s currently playing beach volleyball with Muslimah Athletic Association and admits the modest uniforms she and her teammates wear aren’t what you would expect.
“Here we have a community where women support one another … where we can play in our own comfortable uniforms,” she said. “It’s a way for us to challenge our passions … and take it a step beyond our own careers or own homes or the roles that we play when we are off the court.”
Source: thestar.com
