Stars in Scarves

Salam Stars (2019-20): Top row, left to right: Kishmala Arshad, Ayishah Ayub, Zainab Malik, Ameera Jaber, Jumana Badwan, Hooda Hasan, and Basmallah Salahat. The bottom row, from left to right: Heba Dalieh, Sana Abubaker, Esraa Salim, and Lily Hamed (Photo by Najma Abdi)

Stars in Scarves The Salam Stars of Milwaukee’s Salam School are putting hijabi hoopers on the map.

BY HABEEBA HUSAIN

Agirls’ basketball team that didn’t see support even from their own classmates has blossomed into their school’s pride as the squad improved their skills, recorded wins and attracted national attention.

“All throughout middle school, we never won a game,” says alumna Safiya Schaub, Class of 2019 and team captain of the Salam Stars. She played center as a student and returned the following year to coach the younger teams while pursuing her college degree.

During her sophomore year, newly hired head coach Kassidi “Coach Kass” Macak, a Milwaukee native and former college basketball player, saw the girls’ potential but needed a lot more gym time to tap into it. Salam School had one elementary-sized gym that nine competitive teams rationed out for practices throughout the week. Adamant about turning the team around, she got the girls a daily practice slot instead of the 2-3 times a week to which they were accustomed. As she expected, they improved quickly.

“I hit the sweet spot — it was a good time for me to come in,” says Macak. “Those girls

Safiya Schaub in action

were committed, they wanted to get better… they didn’t want to be the ‘joke’ of the school.”

Soon enough, the Salam Stars attracted fans, tallied wins and caught the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s front-page attention.

The Stars thought that was their five minutes of fame — their picture on the front page — and that was that. But soon enough, reporters from The Washington Post, CNN and Bleacher Report contacted school athletic director David Petrick to meet them.

“We were blown away, our little Muslim school,” says Petrick. “We had a very good team, and Coach Kass is a very dynamic individual. We are very lucky to have found her and included her as a part of our team.”

Petrick, who joined Salam School in the early 2000s as a physical education teacher, set the foundation that put the girls’ team in motion. He first established the boys’ basketball team, despite the school’s lack of a regulation-sized court.

“Our first basketball game we ever had here, I ended up taping the court with floor tape so that we could actually play a game… taping a circle is very difficult,” he said. “I did it all on my hands and knees — I was younger then and more ambitious.”

The teams had their share of blowout losses, but the players were dedicated. When the girls approached Petrick to establish a team of their own, he knew he would have to overcome hurdles with some conservative community members. The decision was made to have a girls’ team, as long as they played within a closed gym and had zero male spectators.

As the team improved, Petrick pleaded with the community to allow men to watch the games, since the girls would be covered in long sleeves, pants and scarves. As a father of two girls, he said he wouldn’t want to miss those special in-game moments and emotions.

“Hats off to the [Islamic Society of Milwaukee] shura. This community is quite diverse,” he said. “They agreed.”

However, home games were still not allowed since visiting teams’ uniforms could

Salam Stars (2018-2019): Top row, left to right: Jenin Ismail, Zayna Tubishat, Jumana Badwan, Lojian Gamar, Rula Sarsour, and Safiya Schaub. Bottom row, left to right: Nadira Ali, Hooda Hasan, Esraa Salim, Heba Badwan, Weam Kaid, and Nida Afzal (Photo by Najma Abdi)

WHEN BLEACHER REPORT HAD 3-TIME WNBA CHAMPION AND 11-TIME ALL-STAR SUE BIRD FLY OUT TO COME SCRIMMAGE WITH THE GIRLS, THEY COULDN’T BELIEVE A PERSON OF HER CALIBER WAS IN THEIR GYM.

not be modified and the board wanted to keep the community members who came to the campus to pray comfortable.

“There were some reservations about the girls having home games, and we were able to work through this by building a culture of no fear,” says Wanis Shalaby, head of school. “As an educator you have to be a person of an open mind. You have to be progressive too. We, as educators, always have to push the boundaries and always have to challenge ourselves.”

Petrick patiently continued to advocate for the girls’ team with Shalaby’s help. Making progress slowly, they finally were able to incorporate a full schedule with both home and away games without disrupting events at the mosque.

As the Salam Stars gained momentum in the media and on the court, Petrick noticed a heightened representation of female Muslim athletes in Nike advertisements. He got back into his recruiting days’ mindset and contacted the company to see if they would sponsor the girls’ basketball team.

It took quite a lot of back and forth, but Petrick got through. Nike sponsored the Salam Stars’ sneakers and provided both white and black Pro Hijabs.

“All of the media attention we got — it was a shock,” Schaub says. “We were winning a lot, and we knew that. We were proud of ourselves, but we didn’t think anything would come of it except us being happy and enjoying it.”

Schaub says she didn’t understand why anyone else cared that her team improved and saw success. When Bleacher Report had 3-time WNBA Champion and 11-time AllStar Sue Bird fly out to come scrimmage with the girls, they couldn’t believe a person of her caliber was in their gym.

“You would never think somebody like her would come all the way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just to play with us,” she says.

The cultural impact of the Salam Stars’ on-court success is relevant and does matter, even if the girls may not have realized it immediately. When Schaub returned to her alma mater to coach the younger students, she saw something of herself in them.

“I can see their passion for the sport. It’s nice to see the next generation — I was in their exact same shoes,” the current University of Wisconsin student says. “I always think about how I would feel or what my coaches did, and I try to be a good role model and help them love the sport.”

Not only will the younger girls at Salam School look up to Schaub and her teammates that helped put the Stars on the map, but so will girls around the world. They’ll see someone who looks like them and believes in what they believe making strides and hopefully find that confidence within themselves too.

It’s not easy being the recipient of hostile or even confused glances.

“The stares that you get ... you can just tell that they don’t like you being there,” Schaub recalls of walking onto a new opponent’s court.

Many times, opposing teams would fool around during warmups, clearly not taking the Salam Stars seriously — but it only took a few minutes of game time for reality to set in.

“I think people were underestimating them, and it was an advantage almost,” says Macak. “I think that’s the coolest thing — you’re the underdog, and you go out there and prove someone wrong.”

From zero support to homegrown heroines, the Salam Stars showed their Milwaukee school, their community and the world not only what they can do, but what Muslim girls can do. ih

Habeeba Husain is a freelance journalist based in the New York tri-state area. She blogs for Why-Islam and helps manage Muslim-run businesses WuduGear and Kamani. Her work has also appeared in SLAM Magazine, Narrative.ly and MuslimGirl.com, among other online and print publications.