Lakewood Football Coaches & Players Respect Ramadan

[stephen davis]

My neighbor is one of the Lakewood High School football coaches, so I've heard parts of this WKYC story for a few years. I've been impressed with the commitment of the students and the sensitivity of the coaches.

LAKEWOOD -- Imagine practicing four hours a day in the heat and sun of this Ohio summer without being able to take a single sip of water.

That's the reality for Lakewood High School senior Mohammad Khdour who, along with four of his teammates, is observing the Islamic month of Ramadan.

"We fast for 30 days from sunrise to sunset," Mohammad explains. "This year, it happened to land on two-a-days."

Mohammad has gone through summer practices during Ramadan without food or water.

The story goes on to explain all that the coaches and trainers do to ensure the health/safety of the fasting students during hot two-a-day practices. Cooling is achieved externally with ice packs and sponges.

"We're proud of our kids observing the holiday," says head coach Ron Lewis. "Two-a-days are tough enough, but then, to not be able to eat or drink from sun up to sun down, is really pretty incredible."

The whole WKYC story and video is at the following link:

http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_art ... 19&catid=3


This is one of those too rare positive Lakewood stories covered by the regional media. It is a story that's good for kids, good for our schools, and good for Lakewood.

I'm not sure how/if a story like this would/could play out in other parts of the country.

Nice little lesson for the rest of the world.

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[Danielle Masters]

I really think it's great that we live in a city with such awesome coaches that support these kids. I know that along with the football players the soccer players are also doing two-a-day practices and it's tough enough without fasting so I admire all these players that are practicing their faith and also fulfilling their team obligations. These are some admirable kids.

[Mike Deneen]

Nice story, especially in light of all the recent national headlines.

Opening Night is only one week away....look for a story in the next print edition of the Observer.

[Ivor Karabatkovic]

Rather have a story about this than about the two-team brawl that broke out at a scrimmage last week between Lakewood and Shaw HS.

[Mike Deneen]

Brawl? Oh my.

A couple fights among teammates during training camp are generally considered a good thing....however, it's not healthy to mix it up with the another team.