Star Khadim Spotlight:
Adnan Ahmad
Adnan Ahmad of South Virginia Jamaat recently competed in the Virginia High School League State Wrestling Tournament for the 138 lb weight class and came out as the winner of his first Championship! Alhumdolilah!
Majilis Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya (MKA) interviewed Adnan bhai on his journey to victory.
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How do you balance school, wrestling, and Jamaat/prayers/etc?
Adnan: I would wake up for Fajr, read Qur'an, and then get ready to go to school. After school at about 2:30, my practice would start and end at 5. I would take a shower then head home. I would do my homework, refuel, and then go to the Masjid [Mosque] at about 7. Then from the Masjid, I would go straight to my gym for another 2 hours to lose a couple more pounds. I would come home around 10 and go to sleep around 11.
How much do you practice wrestling? What is your weekly routine in terms of that?
A: I practice for about 5 hours a day per week. Every week I would have to cut 15 pounds because every Saturday we would have a tournament. By Thursday, I would stay after an extra 30 minutes to work on things I should do in a match or just regular stretching to work on flexibility. I would then go to the gym after the Masjid and work out some more to lose the last 5 to 6 pounds. Some days, I wouldn't have food or water, and my mouth would be dry, but [I would] still make it to Masjid.
Can you talk about how Islam/Ahmadiyyat/Jamaat has benefited you in your wrestling? Expanding on that, how have prayers and your relationship with Huzoor helped?
A: So start of the season I was doing great. I had just won the biggest tournament in VA, and everyone was excited for me. But soon after, I broke one thumb and kept wrestling and a week after, I broke my other thumb. That did not stop me from practicing; I kept wrestling. Soon after I tore some cartilage in my ribs, it made it hard for me to breath deeply. At the end of 2018, I had a concussion, but I took it lightly and still kept on wrestling. I started to lose matches that I was supposed to win, and I kept losing until I got into a match where I bumped my head and couldn't see clearly. I told my coach, and he took me out, talked to my trainer, and they put me out for two weeks. This meant I only had one week to train for the postseason. So before the start of the season, I wrote to Huzoor about with happened and how my season was going. At the moment I didn't feel anything, but in the long run, the prayer was being accepted before I had even held the pen. I would still try to read Namaz at every tournament regardless of who was looking. And before the start of every match, I would say a silent prayer. And the outcome of that match would be surprising, even for me.
*Note - Adnan is mentioned as Syed Moaz in the article.
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