A US Muslim basketball star has become an inspiration for many, launching new camps for basketball to change the game for young athletes, especially Muslim girls.
“Apparently nobody has ever seen Muslim girls play basketball, especially wearing the hijab and our traditional clothing. And so that’s why it got so much buzz,” Jamad Fiin said in a video by The BBC.
“A lot of people now see a Muslim girl doing sport and they’re not surprised any more. No one automatically thinks we don’t go outside the house or just the stereotypes that are put upon us already, people don’t think like that as much,” she added.
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Earlier in 2020, the American-Somali Muslim basketball player broke the internet with her incredible dribbling skills. A video of Fiin showing off her skills went viral on Twitter, gaining over a million views in a day.
Since then her videos have racked up millions of views online.
The college athlete from Boston, US, is using her new found fame to inspire a new generation of players by running her own basketball camps.
Fiin is also spreading her love for basketball to a new generation, especially Muslim girls by running her own basketball camps while still at college.
“Younger girls started showing up [at gyms] and I didn’t want to play against those younger girls. So, that’s when I decided to teach them instead and I started to show them how to dripple, how to shoot and things like that. That’s when it developed into: ‘I can be a trainer, I can coach these girls’,” she said.
“I feel like basketball has made me into the person that I am today. I was very shy young girl and playing basketball helped me get out of my comfort zone, make more friends, and talk to more people.”