THE GIFT OF THE GAMES
Notion of equality underlies sport
I love sports. I was raised with a basketball in my hand and a soccer ball at my feet. In a home with two brothers, and cousins who lived a block away, separated by a park, sports were our greatest joy. We spent countless hours playing with each other and among friends at that park. I was never judged for wearing my hijab. Maybe that was just one of the perks of playing as a child — they don’t notice the differences, they just focus on the similarities.
I grew up in that environment and as my skills began to progress, I decided to play competitive soccer with the full support of my parents and family. I come from a multicultural background, my father a Lebanese Muslim and my mother an Italian former Catholic who converted to Islam. Both of them attended almost all of my games I played for the Nepean Hotspurs, and were there when I was forced to come off the field at a tournament in Laval, Que., for wearing my hijab when I was 11.
They fully supported me — as did my team — throughout my competitive soccer endeavours, even after this occurred. It wasn’t because they wanted me to be the best, it was because they simply loved to see me happy, enjoying myself and showing that I shouldn’t be judged based on the clothes that I wear, but rather the talent that I displayed.
That supporting environment has lasted throughout my life; I chose to wear my hijab at a time when even my mother didn’t wear one. I was not forced to wear it by my parents; I did it because it was something I wanted to do. To this day I think it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I consider my hijab to be a source of pride, honour, dignity and identity. I believe it displays my feminism and influences people to judge me based on my character and personality as opposed to the superficiality of how I look.
When I saw those two Egyptian hijab-wearing Olympians competing against Germany in volleyball, I did not see a cultural clash between two civilizations. What I saw was the Olympic spirit and the very purpose of the Olympic Games. In a world with so many problems and misconceptions about one another, sports is a great avenue to break barriers and bring people from different backgrounds and perspectives together in harmony with a shared purpose.
The Olympic Spirit is “to build a peaceful and better world in the Olympic Spirit which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”
If we can’t even be respectful to one another based on the colour of our skin, the clothes we wear or the country we represent on a soccer field, volleyball or basketball court, how are we going to respect one another in this game we call life?
What we need to do is take a lesson from those innocent kids at the park.
They don’t care what religion you have, what colour your skin is or what you are wearing, they only see you for who you are. When we start focusing on the similarities we share with each other as opposed to the differences, that is when we can learn to accept one another.