- Mahmoud Abdelfattah is the first Muslim coach in a major Australian professional sport will lead NBL champions Sydney Kings
- Mahmoud sees his mission as far beyond basketball and coaching, and he wants to be a role model for others
Winning the NBA G-League last year, Palestinian Muslim basketball coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah is getting ready for a new achievement, becoming the first Muslim coach in a major Australian professional sport.
Mahmoud will lead NBL champions Sydney Kings, seeing his mission as far beyond basketball and coaching.
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“I know I’m impacting someone’s life, and the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing is to be able to be that role model that I was looking for growing up,” he told SBS.
“Because it was always easier when you can relate to someone and there were no Muslims, no Palestinians I could reach out to via social media, to say, hey can you help me get in?
“Now, InshaAllah, I can be that for others. I’m willing and open – just to be available, to talk to somebody if it’s a message if it’s a phone call.”
Faith
For Mahmoud, it’s faith that keeps him grounded. He fasts on Monday and Thursday and centers his life around his five daily prayers.
“I’m here, I’m fasting, I’m not thinking about food or water, it’s just the mentality of being mentally strong, and that’s what I try to preach to these guys.
“Whatever you believe in, you’ve got to wake up every morning believing in something, whatever you have faith in, whether it’s your work ethic, your family, your friends, your religion, for me, it’s my religion, and I know what my religion does for my work, for my job.”
Paul Smith, the owner and chairman of the Sydney Kings, said it was Mahmoud’s unwavering commitment to Islam that partly earned him the respect to get the top job.
“Mahmoud was very open and forward with his commitment to his faith, the expectations he has with the food he eats, the way he conducts himself, the language he uses, and so on and so forth, and I really respected that,” he said.
“I just think we’re ready for this. I think it’s been a challenge for us to establish ourselves with multicultural credentials in this sport. We feel we want to be a broad church that everyone can be a part of, and we hope that Mahmoud can achieve that journey for us as we get started in that process.”
According to the 2016 Australian Census, the number of Muslims in Australia constituted 604,200 people, or 2.6% of the total country’s population.
This makes Islam the second-largest religious grouping in Australia after Christianity.