TOLEDO, Ohio — Naama Shafir had all but given up hope of playing college basketball in the United States even though she was clearly good enough.
She was the best player in her league in Israel. College coaches noticed her. But she wasn’t willing to give up her religious beliefs.
Shafir, an Orthodox Jew, already had cleared one obstacle: her rabbi gave her permission to play on Saturdays, a day of rest and prayer. Still, she needed a school that would accept a player who couldn’t practise or travel in a car or bus from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. And she had to leave home for a new city and language.
"In a way, you could call it a leap of faith," said University of Toledo coach Tricia Cullop, who readily agreed to Shafir’s requests.
What the coach got was more than a talented freshman who is the team’s second-leading scorer.
Shafir (pronounced SHUH’-fihr) has taught her teammates about respecting and embracing cultural and religious differences and what it means to come together as one. "It shows we’re all different, but we’re alike in many ways," said freshman guard Clare Aubry.
Instead of leaving Shafir behind on the Sabbath, her teammates wait to go bowling or see a movie until she can join them. They help her look for kosher foods and take turns travelling with her to road games so that she arrives before sundown on Friday nights.
