Asma Elbadawi actively campaigns to reframe stereotypes in sport and inspires young people from BAME backgrounds to be passionate about the sport they love.

Asma Elbadawi is an ambassador for The Mintridge Foundation, a charity dedicated to enhancing life skills in young people through sport. As part of her work with the charity she openly discusses her own story and the positive benefits sport can have on overall wellbeing.

During the current COVID 19 crisis, many young people have had to give up their beloved weekly team sports or fitness activities due to leisure centre closures, contact team sport bans or restrictions to the home. With research revealing 83% of young people with a history of mental health believe the pandemic has made their mental health worse*, the focus on wellbeing is even more important right now.

Asma speaks about her own journey with sport, why she has become involved with The Mintridge Foundation, and how she is helping to break the mould and hopes to inspire others to do the same.

My love for basketball

“I didn’t actually find my true passion and love for the game of basketball until University. Before this, I was always into my sports, I played netball in high school and you would see my name listed in every school sports team going. I have always been a sporty person and love the feeling that playing sport gives me.

One of my all-time favourite sports memories was winning the school sports day relay race in Year 9. I remember that feeling of speeding past everyone and being up against the other fastest runner in the school, the vivid memory of winning and everyone cheering me on will be one I will never forget.

When I left my city to go to University, I felt slightly out of touch with who I was. I had been doing sports since primary school but for the first two years at University I didn’t get involved with the sports life at all. In my third year I found out that there was a university basketball team for girls, which I joined and it really helped me to manage my time and gave a structure to my daily life.

In whatever sport I did, I always wanted to be the best I could be at it. I knew that if I was really serious about this and wanted to expand on my skills, I had to also attend camps outside of University, which I pushed myself to do.

Being part of the HIJAB campaign is definitely one of my greatest sporting achievements, before this, Muslim women were made to felt excluded from basketball. I am also proud of my poetry, this gave me my voice, it gave me a platform to be heard.

Sport and mental wellbeing

“In basketball your confidence can be knocked, time and time again. During games, not all players make it onto the court so it can be very competitive on the bench. It is a challenging sport both mentally and physically, but that is why I enjoy it. It has been good for me and has taught me many significant skills including how to be a team player and the ability to make quick split decisions. It also helps young people to build resilience to competition and knock-backs in later life.

After playing basketball for a long time, I felt like I needed something else for myself – it got quite hard to maintain playing basketball alongside my work but I didn’t want to stop being active. I took up Jujitsu again, as I had started this before playing basketball, and it was great to have another sport to measure my milestones against.

Sport can have a hugely positive impact on wellbeing in general. The Mintridge Foundation’s slogan of ‘harnessing the power of positive sporting role models’ really stuck with me – it is all about making real people accessible to others, real people who have played sport and have their own stories about the impact it has had on their life and can pass this down to the younger generation.

I am thankful to sport for teaching me many skills, not just those that can be seen on the court – it has helped me to develop myself as a person, my leadership skills and improved my interactions with other people and I want to help coach young people through the power of sport to grow and become the best they can be.

Two weeks before lockdown, I attended two different schools where I shared my story and presented awards. It was nice to show the pupils that you do not have to be focussed on just one thing, I spoke about my visual arts in addition to the basketball. This really resonated with the pupils as they all had very different interests. I was actually told in my past that I would fail at life because I wasn’t focused on the science subjects and my passions were with sports and arts, but that of course does not have to be true and it is important for younger generations to realise this.

I didn’t have a charity or programme like the Mintridge Foundation available to me when I was younger, I had mentors at different stages of my life that really helped me with who I wanted to be but I know not everyone has access to these so it is so important there are people young people can talk to.”

Black Lives Matter

“When I was at school, I didn’t really understand about the opportunities beyond the school gates which meant I didn’t know about the pathway available to me to become a successful sportsperson. I can remember watching the Olympics on the TV and I didn’t really see anyone that looked the same as me, or even people with similar sounding names – this reinforced the thoughts that I wouldn’t be able to play sport at that high level and it was a dream that wasn’t feasible for me.

I have unfortunately experienced racism first-hand throughout my life and I haven’t really spoken about it openly until recently. I remember being nine years old when it first happened. I didn’t really understand what it meant at the time but I knew that it hurt. During my time at high school, I realised I looked different to all the other Muslim girls in my school and the name-calling did not stop. It is so important for people to understand from a young age that their words can be hurtful and that they are educated on the history of all cultures. We need to have an education system in place that gives children a full and accurate version of British history and helps to dismantle structures in place in which people may feel superior. This would be a big step in the process of ensuring racial equity in the UK.

When I was growing up, I didn’t really have a role model as such. Instead of aspiring to be like a certain person I have always aspired to follow values such as honesty and respect. What tends to happen when you adore someone, whether that is a celebrity, friend or a colleague, you love everything about them including their looks but you disconnect from the little things that make you value them as a person.’

The COVID 19 Impact

“The coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown restrictions have been unsettling for me, I have actually found it quite tough. I suffer from an eating disorder and when the world gets loud my eating disorder does too. I used to find it very helpful to be around people when playing sport as we would all eat together. I have changed the way I have been exercising during lockdown and have been doing less strenuous exercise and more time focussing on the fundamentals.

The lockdown has given me the opportunity to take the time to relax and work on improving myself. I have been practicing mindfulness and have been focussed on the fundamentals such as balance, core strength and hand and eye coordination. I have been working on my Jujitsu in my garden and have even bought a punch bag for my room which is great.

Unfortunately, COVID 19 has had an impact on some female sports teams due to sponsors pulling out and not being appreciative of the power of female athletes. it will take much longer for smaller contact sports teams to get back up and running which means a potential knock on effect on the sporting opportunities young people have access to.”

“It is so important that the younger generation realise that there is not a one size fits all, you do not necessarily have to be stereotypically sporty to be good at sports, younger girls can like doing their makeup or playing their guitar and still enjoy being active on the court, pitch or field. You do not have to have the same body, build, skin colour or hobbies as everyone else. Just be you.

I believe in the power of our stories when it comes to conversations with younger generations, I personally am certain that every single person has the power to inspire another, whether that is on social media or in their private life. I do what I love and I hope it will inspire others to do what they love too.”

The Mintridge Foundation

The Mintridge Foundation is a registered charity dedicated to enhancing life skills in young people through sport. We provide a support network for young people by harnessing the power of positive sporting role models. The Mintridge Foundation assists young people of all ages, abilities and physical capabilities to develop confidence and resilience, and creates awareness of the importance of mental and physical wellbeing through sport.

For further information, images or to arrange an interview with Asma or The Mintridge Foundation please email vickie.tebbutt@gmail.com.

@asmaelbadawi

Available for telephone interviews, images available at request. Please contact vickie.tebbutt@gmail.com for more information.

Asma is a British Sudanese (born in Sudan and raised in England) basketball player and an award-winning spoken word poet. Elbadawi holds a BA Hons in Photography, Video and Digital Imaging and a Masters in Visual Arts. Her dual cultural heritage deeply influences her creativity and her main focus is to challenge and reframe stereotypes for women in sport.

She was heavily involved in the globally successful FIBA ALLOW HIJAB Campaign. This campaign saw the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) allow Muslim women to wear the Hijab in Professional Basketball for the first time. Many of her spoken word poetry and interviews have been featured on major media outlets such as BBC sport, BBC three, AJ+ Aljazeera S24 Channel 4 and Buzzfeed.