Posted on 08/12/2011 8:57:25 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
No matter how hot it gets on the practice field at Wesley Chapel High, Ahmed Elshaer will not drink. No matter how faint the senior offensive lineman feels, he will not eat. Elshaer is fasting from all food and drink from sunup to sundown for Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of August. So now, all the Christian players are forced to cater to one muslim’s religious demands.
RIVALS -(H/T Carl) -Ahmed Elshaer is a sophomore at Wesley Chapel (Fla.) High. As first reported in a terrific story (Terrific? What’s terrific about being a muslim?) by the St. Petersburg Times’ Matt Baker, he’s also a devout Muslim, with his faith growing even stronger since he and his family emigrated to the United States from Saudi Arabia (Ah yes, is he taking flying lessons, too?) when he was 9. Soon thereafter, he began fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, a practice which requires him to reject all food and water from sunup to sundown.
The teenager insists that fasting during Ramadan is a keen part of his identity. In past years, Ramadan fasting kept Elshaer from joining football teams at all, for fear that he would struggle to handle practicing without food or water. (So instead, you decided to join and make everyone else miserable) Yet this year Elshaer decided to play for the Wesley Chapel varsity team, and his commitment to his faith hardly seems to have wavered, even as he works through his first ever training camp.
“It’s tough, but I’ve got to do it for my religion.” While daytime fasting hasn’t kept Elshaer out of any preseason practices or drills yet, it has created another level of concern for his coaches and other Pasco County officials. Wesley Chapel head football coach Ben Alford said he is particularly concerned about Elshaer because of both his lack of hydration and the level to which he pushes himself on the field.
To cope with the Florida heat for Elshaer and the rest of the team, Alford moved the program’s practices to 7 a.m., when it is still a bit cooler for outdoor workouts. (But you never thought of doing this until there was a muslim on the team) When the Wesley Chapel team takes water breaks, Elshaer dumps water over his head and neck in an effort to cool down his core temperature.
The trying conditions have already taken their toll on Elshaer’s body, with the teen dropping some 10 pounds since Ramadan began August 1. Still, while Elshaer’s coaches and teammates express concern over his steadfast determination to stick to the guidelines of Islam, he has consistently expressed a more stoic and steely determination, all based on his faith. (Yes, the same faith that commands them to kill all non-believers. Yet another example of dhimmis bowing down to the demands of Islam. DISGUSTING)
What a load of poop!! Making all the OTHER kids come to practice at 7:00 so that one can fast. My son is on a football team and the Muslim kids either don’t fast at this time (they choose to fast later on in the season) or complete the workouts without food or water. Plain and simple.
You notice it doesn’t even say that this kid even ASKED coach Alford to start practice early on his account.
Either the coach is a dhimmi par excellence or this lad must be one heckuva football player.
By the way, I’ve read that everyone GAINS weight over Ramadamadingdong because everyone stuffs themselves at the predawn morning meal and pigs out after sundown.
So when this moron refuses to even drink water and is sent to the ER for dehydration issues, how long before the school is sued?
It would be cool if all of the other kids quit.
Perhaps they agreed as a team to do this, and it would be a lot cooler for practice anyway.
No, I don’t like what’s happening.
You know, Christians are commanded to fast at times too.
We just aren’t supposed to tell people about it
“Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
And we are also not called to fast at places where it might truly damage us, because our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.
And that is the difference between a bondage religion and one that makes you “free indeed”.
I’m sure the local mosque is only serving fish at the Friday Iftars during Ramadan in deference to Catholics in the lcoal community.
This is the second year of my child playing but I will say that football players have a “way” of showing their displeasure against another football player. If the coach is trying to teach a “team bonding” experience, I think he is definitely failing!
Here’s hoping someone on the team does the right thing during the next practice session.
I know I wouldn’t hesitate.
The kid’s NOT a terrorist - he’s trying to be part of a High School Football team. Good for him. He didn’t force anyone to do anything - his team and coach were concerned about his health... Good values - good team mates.
being on a football team means building bonds of trust. all for one and one for all.
thoughts of making not supporting a team member are petty.
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I’m sure they do......but, the 10 pounds he lost are probably all water weight from the pic. I know someone here that did this last year, she passed out one day at practice.
;0( They should be drinking water. Not sure why any fast would not approve of purified water.
Are those guys holding hands? That’s the first time I’ve looked that closely at that picture?
If they’d had any sense, they’d have had ramadan come during December.
Nah.
He’s just got his hand in Barry’s crotch.
In a summer of record-setting temperatures across the United States, four high school football players in three Southern states have died from heat-related illnesses. Experts say football players are at greater risk in high temperatures, and extra precautions need to be taken to prevent future deaths.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/us/july-dec11/footballheat_08-09.html
>>> Here’s hoping someone on the team does the right thing during the next practice session. I know I wouldn’t hesitate.
You sound like a real creep. I suspect the boys on the team aren’t.
It’s so hot here, our boys do 2-a-days....7 am to 10 am, then 7 pm to 10:30 pm. They would die doing it any other way. (And it could be only four hours a day instead of six, depending on UIL regulations, actually, I think it’s four.)
If they are going to assiminate enough to play football, then they should assiminate enough not to require special treatment which is not afforded to any other team members. And you can count on it that he’s being pandered to due to the worry of his collapse on the field and a lawsuit. That’s not fair to other players putting out 110% effort. If in fact the kid is putting out 110% then I will admire his grit.
However, they can eat and drink pre-dawn and pump up on enough carbs and protein where fasting is not going to be problematic. Especially if it’s only four hours a day as I suspect. Plus they can spray him down with enough water to keep him cool and stop some of that dehydration.
I suspect this liberal reporter from the St. Petersburg Times is trying to draw attention to something that is not a even a hill of beans...but attempting to pump up the image of the Muslim kid.
We Jews don’t want to be left out of this discussion. There are three days a year that we are supposed to “fast”, the most holy being “Yom Kippur”, from sundown to sundown the next day.
However, we are not stupid. There are what the Obama regime would call today, “waivers”, esp. for those who are ill, on needed medication, young, pregnant, etc.
People understand that not everyone can do certain things without risking their life, so they have an automatic waiver. I’m one of those because of heart trouble.
As a Jew, I like the concept that human life is valued and protected. Besides, a dead Jew is not a very observant Jew.
I hope the Moslem football player gets some common sense before he collapses with heat prostration/dehyrdration, and either suffers brain damage or death.
I dropped dead but was revived in time (2 years ago to be precise), without any brain damage, defying the odds against a full recovery. It wasn’t fun, believe me.
This kid is just asking for serious injury or death. He can be a religious fanatic later. He should live long enough to enjoy his youth.
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