‘Basketball changed my life as a Muslim; now I help other women play, too’

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‘I’d tell my parents I was staying behind at school’

Stepping on to the basketball court, I feel my shoulders slacken. In that moment, it’s just me, my basketball and a hoop; nothing else matters. I couldn’t risk losing that feeling when I first started playing at college, aged 16, so basketball became my secret.

Growing up in Leicester’s Somali community, Muslim girls like me were encouraged to prioritise our studies over hobbies. Modesty is important, too: we must cover up. For these reasons, the older generation isn’t used to girls playing sport, but my goal is to change that.

My love for basketball blossomed while watching videos of the sport’s greats, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan. I taught myself the rules and would practise drills with a ball at school. Then, at my college open day, I practised shooting in the sports hall with the coach, Karl; he told me that he saw potential in me. It was then that I signed up to Gateway College girls’ basketball team.

**Isra Mohamed, 22, proves the power of sport to other women in her Somali community.**

Before long, I was working on my shooting or post moves whenever I could. When I worked out that improving my overall fitness would improve my game, I started going to the gym, too. At first, I’d tell my parents I was staying behind at school for extra tutoring. But as basketball began to take up more space in my life, I decided to share my secret. To my relief, they were just happy that I’d found something I cared about so deeply; something that was helping me both physically and mentally. I didn’t know it then, but my love for the game was about to become even more public.

I was playing in my first season post-pandemic at Leicester’s DeMontfort University when my student union announced that it was organising a photo shoot to promote our next game, featuring just one team member – and they asked me. I thought the photos would be used on the university’s social media page. So when, the following year, I saw my face on a floor-to-ceiling poster on the court, I was stunned.

‘It made me more determined to use my voice to teach young Muslim girls that we can play sport’

It’s hard to put into words what that meant to me. Not only was I the first Muslim hijabi girl to be photographed as the face of the university’s basketball team, my image was blown up on the wall for all to see. Knowing what it would have meant to my younger self to have seen a fellow Muslim Somali or hijabi sister playing the sport with pride, it felt significant. It made me all the more determined to use my voice to teach young Muslim girls that we can play sport, we can compete – and we can win.

Now, my friends and family are delighted for me. Girls in my community approach me to ask how I started playing, where they can sign up and if we can play together. Not all Somali communities have embraced the idea of girls playing sport, but for mine, it only took witnessing two or three girls having fun (while following modesty etiquette – I wear leggings undershorts, long-sleeved tops under jerseys and either a sports hijab or a regular hijab, tucked in, while playing) to see the freedom and joy it brings us. We are the movement, and this is just the beginning.