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Competing Commitments
Juashaunna Kelly joins the team in a pre-race huddle with the same enthusiasm as everyone else, but she faces the heat covered in a hooded race top and spandex pants under her racing shorts.
(Preston Keres - Post)
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Waleed Mufti tried fasting during Ramadan last season, but found it too difficult to maintain his rigorous academic and running schedules while doing so. During this year's holiday, although he commits himself to "all the other responsibilities that all the other Muslims do," the Chantilly senior has forsaken the fast.
"I can't keep myself from not eating because I like running," said Mufti, 18. "It just doesn't work for me. You don't have to fast to show God you're obeying."
Abdulalim Musa, imam at Masjid al-Islam, a mosque in Southeast, said that fasting is a strict part of Islam, beyond compromise, a pillar of the faith. Very few exceptions are made, and hardly any for able-bodied, high school athletes, no matter how demanding the sport. But Musa said he has no power to make anyone obey.
"If a person [skips] his fast, that's between him and Allah, between him and his lord," Musa said.
Kelly's commitment to her faith extends beyond fasting. To maintain physical modesty, she wears a blue and orange speedskating suit under her jersey that covers her arms and torso. Its hood fits snugly over Kelly's head, replacing the looser hijab, or headscarf, that used to catch wind when she ran.
She stopped running with the hijab about seven years ago. During middle school, and when she first started high school, Kelly's schoolmates snatched the hijab off her head. They called her a terrorist.
Adults weren't much better. At track and field meets, officials would not allow Kelly to run because they perceived the hijab as a uniform violation. They never inquired about the reasons for her refashioned uniform.
"That's when I had to go ballistic," said Sarah Kelly, Juashaunna's mother and an assistant to Roosevelt's coaches. "But people don't know, and if you don't ask questions you'll never know."
When she entered high school, Kelly began attracting attention more for her speed than her outfits.
And after capturing three outdoor titles at the D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association championships last spring, colleges also have begun to take notice. Such programs as Maryland, Virginia, George Mason and Eastern Kentucky have expressed interest.
Kelly knows she's no longer known as the Muslim girl in headwear, the one who can only eat at night for a month each year.
"Now they say there goes the fast girl," Kelly said.
Kelly has plans on Saturday to celebrate Eid, the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan and is usually accompanied by a feast. Later, she will compete in the D.C. Invitational at Fort Dupont. But she especially looks forward to the DCIAA championships on Nov. 1, where she hopes to feel her strongest.
"Last year, I was fasting during the city championships, so I wasn't at full strength," Kelly said. "[Fasting] took a lot of energy away from me. I think I'll do better this year."
