Eman

My love for sports started at a very young age. My dad was an athletic director and always brought my brother and I along with him to basketball, volleyball, and soccer tournaments that he coached or coordinated. My brother and I always played outside for hours on end. Every summer we played soccer and took swimming lessons, and so activity became a critical part of our everyday life.

I started playing basketball at about 7 years old with the North East Basketball Association. I was 14 when I realized I loved basketball and decided to focus my athletic drive on that. I played for NEBA until I was in grade 10 and chose to focus on varsity athletics where I was captain of the basketball team at Edmonton Islamic Academy. There I not only played basketball, but rugby and volleyball as well. Rugby became a super large part of my sport agenda and with the help of my awesome coaches, my team and I became city champions in 2018. EIA rugby provided me with many opportunities to travel from coast to coast as part of a YMCA coordinated exchange. I think that these trips greatly helped me expand my skill and increased my love for the sport.

When COVID cut into my grade 12 year, I found myself trying to find new ways to stay active. I went skating and sledding in the winter, biking and jogging in the spring and plan to continue this summer. In playing soccer, football, basketball, pickleball, tennis and even my newfound love for golf, I have been able to stay active while also maintaining safe social distancing.

I’m currently studying for a bachelor of science in kinesiology at the University of Alberta with hopes to become a physio or athletic therapist!