INL September 15, 2020 PDF Digital Edition

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SEPTEMBER 15, 2020
Sportslink
Teenager on track to achieve Olympics dream
Aysha Hussan of Auckland joins the
world of talented Muslim women
Suzanne McFadden
Aysha Hussan has just begun
a full scholarship at Botany
Downs Secondary College, and
hopes to become a doctor and a
history-making Olympic track athlete for
New Zealand.
At just 14, Aysha has already achieved
so much, as the New Zealand face on the
global Muslim women’s Sports Powerlist
for 2020.
Super women from the Muslim world
A promising track athlete and netballer,
Aysha says that she knows it is “a big
achievement” to be on the List with 34
other Muslim women involved in sport
around the world.
The teenager sits proudly alongside
400 m hurdles Olympic Champion
American Dalilah Muhammad, and
Indonesian climber Aries Susanti, the
first woman in the world to climb a
speed wall in under seven seconds.
Then there is Emirati Zahra Lari,
the first international figure skater to
compete wearing a hijab, and her fellow
countrywoman Amna Al Qubaisi, ‘The
Flying Girl’, who was the first Middle
Eastern woman to test drive in Formula
E (that session in Saudi Arabia in 2018
was just months after the country lifted
its ban prohibiting all women from
driving).
Aysha Hussan
Aysha Hussan on a 400 m race for AMMI Athletics Club
Lofty goals
Although she is yet to rush onto the
world athletics stage, Aysha has set
herself lofty goals.
As well as wanting to be a doctor, it’s
her dream to become the first Muslim
woman to represent New Zealand at an
Olympic Games. “I want to run the 400
m,” says the Year 9 student at Botany
Downs Secondary College in Auckland.
“I have to work hard and keep on
AMMI Athletics Club Track Coach Pawan Marhas
striving, then I can get there one day.”
The people closest to Aysha – her
parents and her coach – say the young
woman may not yet fully realise the
magnitude of being recognised by the
international Muslim Women in Sport
Network, who are behind the Powerlist.
Parental encouragement
Aysha’s Fijian Indian parents, Susan
and Immran, say that they have always
encouraged their athletic daughter
to play sport, even if it means she has
to wear uniforms with short skirts or
shorts, considered immodest in Islam.
“We are not going to stop her competing
because of the dress code. I know
that there are other Muslim girls who
want to come out and compete, they
have the talent, but their parents will
not let them because of the dress code.
I know that she is a Muslim girl, but I
don’t want to restrict her from doing
the things she’s good at. Her father and
I are both on the same wavelength – she
needs to go ahead and live her life and
do what she’s enjoying,” Susan said.
Aysha said that she would rather have
her arms and legs covered beneath her
netball dress – “the dresses are really
short” – and wear tights instead of track
shorts.
But that has not deterred her from
competing.
Aysha started playing Netball at
seven, and two years later, a Coach who
recognised her speed encouraged her to
try athletics.
Embracing athlete minority
At an open day at Mt Smart Stadium,
the Hussans met Track Coach Pawan
Marhas.
Marhas runs the AMMI Athletics Club
in South Auckland, a Club, which he
said embraces “the athlete minority...
athletes who have a talent but who don’t
have a proper platform where they
feel welcome. They take time to settle
in, and then hopefully compete in the
mainstream,” he said.
Aysha has thrived as a runner. Her
sprint relay team broke records, then
won Gold in the 4 x 100m at the 2018
North Island Colgate Games; last year,
she was the 800 m champion across Year
8 girls in Counties. At 13, she was the
youngest female athlete running at last
year’s Fiji Coca Cola Games – dubbed
the biggest schools athletics event in the
world.
Aysha is now in her first year of a full
Sports Scholarship at Botany Downs
College.
Covid-19 restrictions
She has been trying to train towards
the school’s cross country championships,
but at Level 3 Lockdown, she
could only run around the block outside
her home.
Her school Netball season has been
fitful, and the annual Muslim Netball
Tournament has been called off. But
that has not put her off her goals.
Marhas said that Aysha is dedicated
and focused.
“According to how she is moving now
and how focused she is on achieving,
I am 100% sure that she will make the
Olympics if she carries on. She just
needs to keep working and she will
become an international athlete,” he
said.
The Importance of Safe Space
Marhas sees many barriers for young
athletes, especially from Muslim and
Sikh communities.
“At grassroots level, the reality is
they face some discrimination on the
basis of their colour, ethnicity or the
way they dress. It’s a common problem
around the world. I always push for
flexibility and inclusion. I try to involve
the parents and make sure they are on
the field when the kids are working… so
they feel like they’re part of the journey.
Involve the parents, so they are an arm’s
distance away, and the children feel
confident,” he said.
Suzanne McFadden is the Editor of
LockerRoom, dedicated to women’s sport.
The above article and pictures have been
published under a Special Arrangement with
Newsroom.
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