June 11, 2024 • 13 mins
Welcome to JAT Chat, presented by the Journal of Athletic Training, the official journal of the National Athletic Trainers Association. In this episode, Dr. Shelby Baez is joined by Dr. Mishaal Amjad, an athletic trainer for the NLL Colorado Mammoth and PLL Philadelphia Water Dogs.
Dr. Amjad discusses her research on the experiences of Muslim collegiate student-athletes fasting during Ramadan while participating in sports. She provides valuable insights into the significance of fasting, intrinsic and extrinsic challenges, and the types of support that these athletes need.
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/42aafkmz
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:15):
Welcome to JAT Chat, presented by the Journal of Athletic Training,
the official journal of the National Athletic Trainers Association.
I'm Dr. Shilvi Baez, an assistant professor in the Department of Exercise and
Sports Science at UNC Chapel Hill and the co-host of JAT Chat with Dr. Kara Radzak.
Today, I have the pleasure of being joined by Dr. Mishal Amjed,
who is an athletic trainer for the NLL Colorado Mammoth and PLL Philadelphia Water Dogs. Dr.
(00:40):
Amjad is the lead author of Muslim Collegiate Student Athletes' Experiences
While Fasting During Ramadan While Participating in Sport.
This article is available in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion,
and Access special issue in the Journal of Athletic Training.
Michelle, thank you so much for joining me today.
Thank you so much for having me. Starting with a very broad question for our listeners.
(01:03):
What is Ramadan? And can you discuss how Muslims observing Ramadan will accommodate
for fasting in their schedule?
Sure. So Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic lunar calendar,
and it is known as the month of fasting because adult Muslims who are able to
are required to fast from sunrise to the sunset.
(01:24):
This means that they do not eat or drink anything during the day,
and they usually wake up prior to sunrise to eat and then break their fast at sunset.
So they need to take into consideration what time
they need to wake up before sunrise and sunset because
ramadan follows the lunar calendar it actually moves up around 10 to 11 days
(01:46):
each year and usually lasts 29 to 30 days so ramadan can be any time it could
be during the summer during the winter it really just depends on what time of the year it is.
That's super helpful context. And as we think about Ramadan and participation
in sport, can you provide us some insight into what we know,
(02:07):
what are current considerations as it relates to Ramadan and sport?
Absolutely. So there's research about Ramadan and the physical effects that
fasting has on the body, as well as the physiological effects that it also has.
These can include hydration, sleep, blood glucose levels, etc.
(02:29):
And it really just looks into the physical and physiological effects.
There isn't much research on considerations of student athletes,
especially those in the United States.
And I think that's a lot of the research that is about a lot of the research
that a lot of the research on Ramadan is involving people who are actually in
(02:54):
Islamic countries or where there's a larger Muslim presence.
Do we know anything about the experience of Muslim student athletes in the NCAA
and what has been established there specifically for the NCAA?
And so, unfortunately, we do not have a lot of information on Muslim student-athletes in the NCAA.
(03:15):
We actually don't know how many Muslim athletes are in the NCAA either.
And there isn't a lot of guidelines or considerations involving Muslim athletes
who are fasting during Ramadan in the US.
And because of that, we really don't know unless we ask them.
So this is what seemed to potentially prompt the paper where you all were exploring
(03:39):
the lived experiences of Muslim student-athletes participating in NCAA sport.
Can you talk a little bit about the themes that you identified as a result of this exploration?
And then maybe give an example of what you saw underneath each of these themes.
Yes, absolutely. So you are totally correct, which this did kind of lead to
(03:59):
why we wanted to look into the paper, as well as a little bit of a personal.
Interest in this as well as being a Muslim myself, where I know what my experiences
are, but I do not know what my student-athletes' experiences are either.
So with the research and through listening to our participants,
we did a qualitative study.
(04:19):
So I got to really talk to these individuals and really get their insight on
what fasting means to them, as well as what they're going through while they're
fasting and participating in sports.
And so this led to four themes that really were seen throughout each interview.
And so the themes were significance of fasting, and this was probably one of
(04:42):
the biggest themes and something that was seen to outweigh any of the challenges that were faced as well.
And so the significance of fasting, when you go under, a lot of the participants
talked about how they began fasting, which was majority due to a familial influence.
Basically, their parents started fasting. That's why they started fasting.
(05:04):
But then they began to continue to fast throughout college and right now because
of what fasting means to them. And what was seen was that there was this religious
belief that fasting is an act of worship.
It's a way to strengthen your relationship with God and to strengthen your faith.
And that was something that was super important to the participants.
(05:27):
Another thing that was seen under
the significance of fasting was this introspection and spiritual growth.
Which a few of the participants said that they had a sense of pride when they're
fasting and they were able to maintain their identity while fasting.
And that was really, really important to them.
Some of the other themes that we saw were intrinsic challenges and extrinsic challenges.
(05:49):
So intrinsic challenges, this is when the athletes felt like they had physical,
mental, and emotional and time constraints.
The physical challenges that they felt were the toll that fasting took on their
body, how to reassess feeling the body and really figuring out how to have their
body ready for performance.
(06:09):
Mental emotional challenges were they felt that sometimes it was difficult to
fast. They were doing it alone.
They had guilt. A few of the participants said that they felt guilty because
they had to fast and it was championship season in and they had to go.
They were feeling split in half basically because they felt guilty,
(06:30):
but they knew that this was something that they needed to do.
And then some people also had some doubt while fasting and participating in
sport, figuring out whether they can actually perform to the level that they usually do.
And then for time constraints there, as a student athlete, you have to balance a lot of things.
And so that was the biggest thing that was brought up throughout the interviews
(06:52):
was that there is a religious academic and sport expectations and the student
athlete is expected to balance all of these things and they had some difficulty with that as well.
So for extrinsic challenges, these were basically what kind of resources were
available, the knowledge and curiosity of others, as well as understanding of others.
(07:14):
And it was brought up that a lot of the Muslim student athletes were,
they felt that they had a lack of community and they felt isolated while they
were fasting and they didn't have access to a community.
And another thing that was brought up was that they didn't have access to food
in the morning to eat prior to fasting, or that the dining hall closed before
(07:37):
they were able to get food when they needed to break their fast.
So those were just some of the challenges revolving the resources.
And then when it came to the knowledge and curiosity of others,
what was said was a lot of the participants felt that they didn't really have
support because the people around them were not knowledgeable about fasting and Ramadan.
(07:58):
And then understanding when it comes to that subset of the extrinsic challenges,
a few of the participants were stating that they had people come up to them
and were asking them questions that were either poorly worded that weren't really
super beneficial, but more so like why that's not healthy.
And it really brought on the sense of judgment and assumptions that was seen
(08:22):
by the Muslim student-athletes. and our participants don't really want to be treated differently.
They just want others to understand what they're doing.
And then when it comes to support, that was the fourth theme that,
We found, and participants were basically split half and half.
Some felt supported throughout the month and others did not feel supported at all.
(08:44):
And it really came down to a sense of, do they have support?
Was it sport-related support that they had? Do they have community support?
And things that were mentioned during those parts of the interview was that,
are there people to help keep track of what they're doing in training and stuff like that?
Or do they feel like they had support where someone was saying like,
(09:07):
oh, it's time to break your fast, here's some water.
And with the community support, a lot of times that was outside of the realm
of sports where there are institutions that have Muslim student organizations,
or local mosques that the Muslim student athletes can go to and gain that support as well. Wow.
So for desired support, that is how the participants felt.
(09:32):
For desired support, it was something that the participants felt that they would
like to have during their time of fasting during Ramadan.
And a lot of this was flexible scheduling, nutritional support,
mental support, others having more knowledge and understanding of what they're doing.
And the others that were mentioned throughout the paper were coaches,
(09:53):
strength and conditioning coaches, psychologists, nutritionists, and athletic trainers.
Thank you for providing that feedback as it relates to the themes and more importantly,
the lived experiences of these student-athletes.
As I was listening to you talk and as I was reflected on reading the paper,
the guilt and the doubts and tangible things like the dining hall being closed
(10:15):
when they could break their fast,
all of these things are factors that we need to consider when we're working
with our student athletes, especially Muslim athletes who are participating in Ramadan.
The other thing that I also found very interesting when thinking about the things
that were identified was this almost balance between wanting to educate their
(10:36):
coaches and their teammates and ask questions and be willing to answer questions about Ramadan,
but also not wanting to have the onus of the researching and the learning and
the understanding to fall on their shoulders when they're supposed to be engaging
in this time of spiritual reflection.
And that really got me thinking is what can athletic trainers do to provide
(10:56):
support, potentially release some of this onus on the research,
the learning, and help our Muslim student-athletes who are observing Ramadan?
I think it's really important for athletic trainers to gain a background information
on Ramadan, especially if they have Muslim student athletes that they're directly working with.
Just having that background sense so that you can start a conversation with
(11:19):
your athlete is super important.
And then it's just necessarily it's just building up from there.
So you start with that background information and you continue to build up.
And as you're building up, what I mean by that is just communicating with your
student athlete and really getting their perspective and their point of view
and kind of learning more about them.
And that will help with everything throughout that process and your relationship
(11:43):
with them as well as how you can help them too. To end our interview today.
Could you provide a take-home point about your paper for our listeners?
What is the one thing that you want to make sure that our listeners leave when
they're listening to this podcast? campus?
Sure. Athletic trainers are in this really special role and unique role where
(12:06):
they are a direct person in contact with a Muslim student athlete.
And it is super important to facilitate those kind of patient-centered care
opportunities so that you know what the athlete is going through and you can
provide for them as well.
And as the diversity and equity inclusion focus is building in multiple organizations,
(12:29):
it's super important to really understand what your Muslim athletes are going
through, especially during Ramadan.
And ultimately, we all have the same goal of wanting what's best for our student athletes.
And in order to do that, we need to really know what they're going through.
And the only way to do that is to actually have a conversation with them.
And these are crucial conversations to have.
(12:51):
So definitely here, making sure that you communicate with your athletes and
identify what do they need?
Because you may not know what they need unless you have that crucial conversation with them.
Michelle, thank you so much for joining me today. And as a reminder to our listeners,
this article is available free of charge in the special issue of the Journal of Athletic Training.
(13:11):
I highly recommend each of you go out and download this manuscript at NJAT.
Again, thank you so much for joining me today, and we will see you all next time.
Music.
Music.
(00:15):
Welcome to JAT Chat, presented by the Journal of Athletic Training,
the official journal of the National Athletic Trainers Association.
I'm Dr. Shilvi Baez, an assistant professor in the Department of Exercise and
Sports Science at UNC Chapel Hill and the co-host of JAT Chat with Dr. Kara Radzak.
Today, I have the pleasure of being joined by Dr. Mishal Amjed,
who is an athletic trainer for the NLL Colorado Mammoth and PLL Philadelphia Water Dogs. Dr.
(00:40):
Amjad is the lead author of Muslim Collegiate Student Athletes' Experiences
While Fasting During Ramadan While Participating in Sport.
This article is available in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion,
and Access special issue in the Journal of Athletic Training.
Michelle, thank you so much for joining me today.
Thank you so much for having me. Starting with a very broad question for our listeners.
(01:03):
What is Ramadan? And can you discuss how Muslims observing Ramadan will accommodate
for fasting in their schedule?
Sure. So Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic lunar calendar,
and it is known as the month of fasting because adult Muslims who are able to
are required to fast from sunrise to the sunset.
(01:24):
This means that they do not eat or drink anything during the day,
and they usually wake up prior to sunrise to eat and then break their fast at sunset.
So they need to take into consideration what time
they need to wake up before sunrise and sunset because
ramadan follows the lunar calendar it actually moves up around 10 to 11 days
(01:46):
each year and usually lasts 29 to 30 days so ramadan can be any time it could
be during the summer during the winter it really just depends on what time of the year it is.
That's super helpful context. And as we think about Ramadan and participation
in sport, can you provide us some insight into what we know,
(02:07):
what are current considerations as it relates to Ramadan and sport?
Absolutely. So there's research about Ramadan and the physical effects that
fasting has on the body, as well as the physiological effects that it also has.
These can include hydration, sleep, blood glucose levels, etc.
(02:29):
And it really just looks into the physical and physiological effects.
There isn't much research on considerations of student athletes,
especially those in the United States.
And I think that's a lot of the research that is about a lot of the research
that a lot of the research on Ramadan is involving people who are actually in
(02:54):
Islamic countries or where there's a larger Muslim presence.
Do we know anything about the experience of Muslim student athletes in the NCAA
and what has been established there specifically for the NCAA?
And so, unfortunately, we do not have a lot of information on Muslim student-athletes in the NCAA.
(03:15):
We actually don't know how many Muslim athletes are in the NCAA either.
And there isn't a lot of guidelines or considerations involving Muslim athletes
who are fasting during Ramadan in the US.
And because of that, we really don't know unless we ask them.
So this is what seemed to potentially prompt the paper where you all were exploring
(03:39):
the lived experiences of Muslim student-athletes participating in NCAA sport.
Can you talk a little bit about the themes that you identified as a result of this exploration?
And then maybe give an example of what you saw underneath each of these themes.
Yes, absolutely. So you are totally correct, which this did kind of lead to
(03:59):
why we wanted to look into the paper, as well as a little bit of a personal.
Interest in this as well as being a Muslim myself, where I know what my experiences
are, but I do not know what my student-athletes' experiences are either.
So with the research and through listening to our participants,
we did a qualitative study.
(04:19):
So I got to really talk to these individuals and really get their insight on
what fasting means to them, as well as what they're going through while they're
fasting and participating in sports.
And so this led to four themes that really were seen throughout each interview.
And so the themes were significance of fasting, and this was probably one of
(04:42):
the biggest themes and something that was seen to outweigh any of the challenges that were faced as well.
And so the significance of fasting, when you go under, a lot of the participants
talked about how they began fasting, which was majority due to a familial influence.
Basically, their parents started fasting. That's why they started fasting.
(05:04):
But then they began to continue to fast throughout college and right now because
of what fasting means to them. And what was seen was that there was this religious
belief that fasting is an act of worship.
It's a way to strengthen your relationship with God and to strengthen your faith.
And that was something that was super important to the participants.
(05:27):
Another thing that was seen under
the significance of fasting was this introspection and spiritual growth.
Which a few of the participants said that they had a sense of pride when they're
fasting and they were able to maintain their identity while fasting.
And that was really, really important to them.
Some of the other themes that we saw were intrinsic challenges and extrinsic challenges.
(05:49):
So intrinsic challenges, this is when the athletes felt like they had physical,
mental, and emotional and time constraints.
The physical challenges that they felt were the toll that fasting took on their
body, how to reassess feeling the body and really figuring out how to have their
body ready for performance.
(06:09):
Mental emotional challenges were they felt that sometimes it was difficult to
fast. They were doing it alone.
They had guilt. A few of the participants said that they felt guilty because
they had to fast and it was championship season in and they had to go.
They were feeling split in half basically because they felt guilty,
(06:30):
but they knew that this was something that they needed to do.
And then some people also had some doubt while fasting and participating in
sport, figuring out whether they can actually perform to the level that they usually do.
And then for time constraints there, as a student athlete, you have to balance a lot of things.
And so that was the biggest thing that was brought up throughout the interviews
(06:52):
was that there is a religious academic and sport expectations and the student
athlete is expected to balance all of these things and they had some difficulty with that as well.
So for extrinsic challenges, these were basically what kind of resources were
available, the knowledge and curiosity of others, as well as understanding of others.
(07:14):
And it was brought up that a lot of the Muslim student athletes were,
they felt that they had a lack of community and they felt isolated while they
were fasting and they didn't have access to a community.
And another thing that was brought up was that they didn't have access to food
in the morning to eat prior to fasting, or that the dining hall closed before
(07:37):
they were able to get food when they needed to break their fast.
So those were just some of the challenges revolving the resources.
And then when it came to the knowledge and curiosity of others,
what was said was a lot of the participants felt that they didn't really have
support because the people around them were not knowledgeable about fasting and Ramadan.
(07:58):
And then understanding when it comes to that subset of the extrinsic challenges,
a few of the participants were stating that they had people come up to them
and were asking them questions that were either poorly worded that weren't really
super beneficial, but more so like why that's not healthy.
And it really brought on the sense of judgment and assumptions that was seen
(08:22):
by the Muslim student-athletes. and our participants don't really want to be treated differently.
They just want others to understand what they're doing.
And then when it comes to support, that was the fourth theme that,
We found, and participants were basically split half and half.
Some felt supported throughout the month and others did not feel supported at all.
(08:44):
And it really came down to a sense of, do they have support?
Was it sport-related support that they had? Do they have community support?
And things that were mentioned during those parts of the interview was that,
are there people to help keep track of what they're doing in training and stuff like that?
Or do they feel like they had support where someone was saying like,
(09:07):
oh, it's time to break your fast, here's some water.
And with the community support, a lot of times that was outside of the realm
of sports where there are institutions that have Muslim student organizations,
or local mosques that the Muslim student athletes can go to and gain that support as well. Wow.
So for desired support, that is how the participants felt.
(09:32):
For desired support, it was something that the participants felt that they would
like to have during their time of fasting during Ramadan.
And a lot of this was flexible scheduling, nutritional support,
mental support, others having more knowledge and understanding of what they're doing.
And the others that were mentioned throughout the paper were coaches,
(09:53):
strength and conditioning coaches, psychologists, nutritionists, and athletic trainers.
Thank you for providing that feedback as it relates to the themes and more importantly,
the lived experiences of these student-athletes.
As I was listening to you talk and as I was reflected on reading the paper,
the guilt and the doubts and tangible things like the dining hall being closed
(10:15):
when they could break their fast,
all of these things are factors that we need to consider when we're working
with our student athletes, especially Muslim athletes who are participating in Ramadan.
The other thing that I also found very interesting when thinking about the things
that were identified was this almost balance between wanting to educate their
(10:36):
coaches and their teammates and ask questions and be willing to answer questions about Ramadan,
but also not wanting to have the onus of the researching and the learning and
the understanding to fall on their shoulders when they're supposed to be engaging
in this time of spiritual reflection.
And that really got me thinking is what can athletic trainers do to provide
(10:56):
support, potentially release some of this onus on the research,
the learning, and help our Muslim student-athletes who are observing Ramadan?
I think it's really important for athletic trainers to gain a background information
on Ramadan, especially if they have Muslim student athletes that they're directly working with.
Just having that background sense so that you can start a conversation with
(11:19):
your athlete is super important.
And then it's just necessarily it's just building up from there.
So you start with that background information and you continue to build up.
And as you're building up, what I mean by that is just communicating with your
student athlete and really getting their perspective and their point of view
and kind of learning more about them.
And that will help with everything throughout that process and your relationship
(11:43):
with them as well as how you can help them too. To end our interview today.
Could you provide a take-home point about your paper for our listeners?
What is the one thing that you want to make sure that our listeners leave when
they're listening to this podcast? campus?
Sure. Athletic trainers are in this really special role and unique role where
(12:06):
they are a direct person in contact with a Muslim student athlete.
And it is super important to facilitate those kind of patient-centered care
opportunities so that you know what the athlete is going through and you can
provide for them as well.
And as the diversity and equity inclusion focus is building in multiple organizations,
(12:29):
it's super important to really understand what your Muslim athletes are going
through, especially during Ramadan.
And ultimately, we all have the same goal of wanting what's best for our student athletes.
And in order to do that, we need to really know what they're going through.
And the only way to do that is to actually have a conversation with them.
And these are crucial conversations to have.
(12:51):
So definitely here, making sure that you communicate with your athletes and
identify what do they need?
Because you may not know what they need unless you have that crucial conversation with them.
Michelle, thank you so much for joining me today. And as a reminder to our listeners,
this article is available free of charge in the special issue of the Journal of Athletic Training.
(13:11):
I highly recommend each of you go out and download this manuscript at NJAT.
Again, thank you so much for joining me today, and we will see you all next time.
Music.
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