c. 2006 Religion News Service

TOMS RIVER, N.J. _ Their day begins in darkness shortly after 5 a.m. to make sure the meal is finished long before sunrise.

For Nashwa Yosry, it is a bowl of Kix, a glass of milk and a small brownie. Tamir Dayya loads up with oatmeal, cereal, a peanut butter sandwich, a protein drink and a glass of milk. Mohamed Soliman has pancakes and cookies. And water, lots of water.

These are the student-athletes of Ramadan _ teenagers who live with the Muslim ritual of fasting from sunrise to sunset for a month, while learning an extra lesson or two about discipline and dealing with a bit of discomfort.

“My partner didn’t drink, but the people we were playing, I saw them drinking every time we changed sides,” said Yosry, a freshman tennis player at Toms River North High School, after a recent match. “I just sprayed some water on my lips. That helps and it’s allowed.”

During Ramadan, which started Sept. 23 and ends Sunday (Oct. 22) this year, the rhythm of a teenage life, when food is a constant presence, is completely altered. There are no crackers or M&Ms in backpacks, no after-school visits to McDonald’s, no ventures to the pizza place down the street during a free period.

Instead, Muslim students observing Ramadan _ the month Muslims believe God began revealing the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad 1,400 years ago _ sit in the auditorium or on the grass outside and do homework during lunch. They ignore the Snapple machine in the hallway. And when the final bell rings, they head to the locker room and change for practice or a game as if it is any other day.

“I didn’t even bother to tell my coach,” said Ahmed Ragab, a junior at Middletown North High School who plays fullback on the school soccer team. “I’m not someone who’s really into excuses, so I didn’t want to bring it up. Maybe I’ll tell him after the season.”

Ragab is used to Ramadan by now, anyway. Like many Muslim children, he started the daytime fasts when he was in third grade. And like others, he said it has become a part of the flow of the year, something he won’t turn into too big of a deal.

“We tell the kids to work as hard as they can, but if you need a break, you take it, though they rarely do,” said Ron Anello, head football coach at Clifton High School, where the Muslim spillover from nearby Paterson grows each year. “You know how kids are: They eat like it’s the last day of the world. You go without food and it’s like running a car without gasoline.”

Recently Anello’s staff was busy running 80 kids, including three Muslim players, through a brutal practice on a balmy autumn afternoon. He’s the kind of coach who believes that the only way to know how to play hard is to practice hard. By 4:15, one of his linemen was throwing up by the bleachers.

Dayya, a 5-11, 170-pound sophomore who is starting at center this season on the varsity team, was bounding through the drills. On every whistle, he exploded out of his stance and crashed into a defender, often so hard the yellow rag on top of the defender’s helmet would pop off.

When Anello blew his whistle and yelled for a water break, Dayya trotted over with the rest of his teammates. He pulled off his helmet to reveal drenched black curly hair, grabbed a green spray bottle, tilted his head 90 degrees, sprayed and spit. Muslims are allowed to wet their mouths; they just can’t swallow. And Dayya doesn’t break the rules of his prophet.

“I can’t go out in the middle of a play in a game and get some water if I’m thirsty, so now I just can’t do it during practice either,” he said.

Muslims are allowed to skip a day of fasting if they need to, as long as they make up for it with another day of fasting later in the year. Dayya’s mother, though, doesn’t encourage it, and every time he has skipped a day in the past he has ended up regretting it.

Better, instead, to just use the fast as a form of motivation.

“You take your anger out on the guys you’re playing against,” he said. “You picture a water bottle in the middle of their chest and you go after it.”

In other words, Ramadan can be turned into an advantage, as long as you think of it that way.

Soliman, a freshman at Middletown North High School, plays football for his school and soccer for a local club team. There are days this month when he goes straight from football practice to an 8 p.m. soccer game without eating.

As he ran onto the field for a soccer game last week, he felt a rush of adrenaline and knew he would play well.

“If I’m strong enough to do this for a month, then I’m capable of going 110 percent on the field,” he said. “I actually enjoy it, because it encourages me to do better. It makes me stronger in a religious sense and a physical sense.”

(Matthew Futterman writes for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.)

KRE/PH END FUTTERMAN

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