Sylvania student-athlete looks to foster change after disqualification for hijab

By Kirk Baird / The Blade
Thu, 23 Jan 2020 17:15:17 GMT

At 16, life is complicated enough for most us just learning how to drive through neighborhoods and navigate the perils of high school halls.

So imagine placing on teenage shoulders the weight of racism and discrimination, and all the scrutiny that comes with it, because the teenager is a Muslim student-athlete.

Noor Abukaram, a 16-year-old junior at The Bounty Collegium in Sylvania and a member of the Sylvania Northview High School Girls Cross Country Team, was disqualified from the district cross country meet in mid-October for wearing her hijab.

Noor's coach, Jerry Flowers, took responsibility for not turning in the required paperwork to allow her to wear a hijab as she raced, and for also deciding not to tell Noor about her disqualification until after she competed in the event.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) at the time said that its rules were followed in Noor's disqualification, but the organization would consider changing that rule.

And the media, locally and nationally, had a field day with the cause celebre.

Months later, she remains on the cross country team; her coach submitted the appropriate form for her to wear her hijab at the regional event in early November.

OHSAA officials said that following the October event, an “immediate” revision was made to the regulations of religious headwear, essentially eliminating a prior waiver by allowing a head coach to notify a referee “that a player wishes not to expose his/her uncovered head” before the start of a competition. On Dec. 5, the OHSAA Board of Directors approved the revision.

Noor said she has not had any direct dialogue with OHSAA since that October race, and while her parents are trying to keep her out of the legal details and focused on other aspects of her life, from what she has been told, her lawyer has twice set up meetings with OHSAA and twice the organization has canceled.

And so she’s made it her mission to educate the public and the community on her story as well as similar experiences from others.

Noor set up a website, letnoorrun.com, and is one of a trio of Muslim female athletes scheduled to share their stories at the LetNoorRun kick-off event beginning at 7 p.m. Friday at the Franciscan Center in Lourdes University, 6832 Convent Blvd. in Sylvania.

Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, a University of Memphis basketball player who competed while wearing a hijab, and Amaiya Zafar, the first boxer to wear a hijab in a sanctioned bout, are the other speakers. A Q&A session will follow their presentation. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit letnoorrun.com.

That a runner, a basketball player, and a boxer faced the same adversity in their expressions of faith is proof, she said, that discrimination extends beyond letting Noor run in northwest Ohio.

"Think about the discrimination in the sports industry,” she said, “and how it's such a big part of it, going back to black athletes not being allowed to compete in sports professionally.”

It’s also happened in her family: an aunt who was a record-breaking track star at the collegiate level two decades ago was told in high school that she couldn’t wear a long shirt and long pants as part of her uniform.

After her disqualification, Noor said she thought about her aunt and what she went through. And when she considered that she would have to fight through something similar, she got upset.

“I really did not think I would have to do this,” she said.

Which is why LetNoorRun is the first in what is planned to be a series of big and small events to create awareness and a call to action.

“We can fight things better together,” Noor said. “This just emulates that.”

“Hopefully,” she added, “no one after me will have to carry on this fight.”

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