W.N.B.A.’s Mistie Bass Learns Lessons in Bahrain (She coached a Bharanian women's basketball team)

[Are_grits_groceries]

When the W.N.B.A. season ends, I usually head overseas for a winter of basketball. The trip provides additional income and a chance to hone my skills. But after my latest stint overseas, in Israel, I had a life-changing experience.

I traveled to Bahrain, a small island country east of Saudi Arabia, to watch my fiancé, O’neal Mims III, finish his basketball season last fall. At his games, I was usually the only woman in the arena. Within 48 hours of my arrival, Muhammad al-Khalifah, a relative of the king, asked me to coach his Muharraq women’s basketball team.
<snip>
They were used to being coached by men who tended to discourage them. But I saw nothing but tremendous potential, and I tried to nourish it. I made it clear that I was invested in the team’s improvement, and the players made it clear that they were serious as well. We practiced two to four times a week, usually at night. The players picked me up, and we had time to talk during the drive.

One day, we worked on layups for nearly half of practice. I challenged each player to make 10 in a row; anyone who missed had to run sprints. With most of them wearing long-sleeve shirts, long pants and head coverings, they ran and ran and never complained or pointed fingers, no matter how tired or uncomfortable they might have been. They worked so hard and encouraged one another every step of the way. If I ever feel hesitant during a workout, that memory will push me.

<snip>
Her toughest challenge was finding a place for us to practice. At the Muharraq athletic club, our team was last to get time in the gym, behind the men’s team and even men’s pickup games. Fatima did all she could, and she taught me what a captain and a leader really is.
<snip>
Every day in my final week, I felt I was losing something very special. We grew close on the court and even closer off it.
By sharing their thoughts on their culture and Islam, they destroyed my preconceptions about the Middle East.

Those nine women halfway across the world changed me forever and, I hope, helped me become a better person.

Chicago forward Mistie Bass coached the Muharraq women's team. This was the first full season for Bahrain's eight-team women's league.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/sports/16bass.html?ref=sports

Mistie Bass is a far more open minded and wiser person than a lot of people in government and in the American people at large. She listened and learned.

[cali]

1. there is no way those women

can live up to their athletic potential dressed like that.

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. That is not the message I took from this article.

Each to their own.

[cali]

3. Of course there's, more to the article than that

but the pictures of women trying to play a sport while dressed from head to toe, are rather striking. Hard not to notice.

[Captain Hilts]

7. It's a wonder they don't make them play half court: dribble 3 times and pass so

that you don't run and get sweaty.

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. Covered in glory and she's got game. Meet Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir from Connecticut

A top student and now the top high school scorer in state history, Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir knows there is more to life than a game. But does she have game.


SPRINGFIELD - Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir walks quietly through the halls of the New Leadership Charter School. She is soft-spoken and polite. The youngest child of a devout Muslim family, the 5-foot-3-inch senior believes in modesty, and is determined not to call attention to herself.

Bilqis cannot help standing out. For one thing, she is the top-ranked student in her class. She wants to study pre-med in college with an eye toward being a cardiac surgeon. "The heart," she says, "is most interesting to me."

Then there is her presence on the basketball court, where she is a magnet for the eyes of all fans, and not just because she competes with her legs and arms completely covered beneath her uniform, and with a hijab (or head scarf) over the top of her head. The point guard dazzles every night with a game that is a nonstop whir of creative fury. She darts into the lane against much bigger players, flicking in layups and reverses and hitting teammates with no-look passes. She drains pull-up jumpers and step-back 3-pointers. Despite a steady diet of double-teams and box-and-one defenses designed to stop her, she is averaging, this season, an astonishing 41.3 points per game.
<snip>
****A fifth-year varsity player, Bilqis (pronounced BILL-KEACE) will attend the University of Memphis this fall on a full scholarship and will become the first player at a top tier Division 1 school to compete in full Muslim dress.****

Her look has drawn some curiosity, and, at times, some taunts.

"Sometimes they yell out, 'Terrorist!' " said teammate Ashanti Miller. "She gets mad, but she doesn't lash out. I don't know how she handles it. She just takes it."

Much more: http://www.boston.com/sports/schools/basketball/articles/2009/02/08/covered_in_glory/?page=3

She has had to sit out her freshman season while rehabbing a torn ACL in her right knee. Candice Parker suffered the same injury in high school.

If you have the desire to play, you can overcome a lot. You don't have to be D-1 level to enjoy the game and be successful at it.

[MiniMe]

5. What a great story, thanks for posting

[Captain Hilts]

6. VERY interesting!

It's always good to see women get the opportunity to have the benefits TEAM sports can generate.