The Association between Ramadan and Sports

Article in brief: Let’s make Ramadan the start of a new way of maintaining sports as the norm in our lives, instead of a mere pit stop.

The holy month of Ramadan is the platform where we witness the sudden surge of new or changing habits and trends. This religious month is known for its universal power in attracting people to spend more time with family, dedicate more time in spiritual development and perform any possible good deed. One of the most fascinating trends that we witness in our society during the month of Ramadan is the increase of interest in sporting activities.

Ramadan is seen by many as an opportunity to improve their life in different ways. By virtue of the unique atmosphere surrounding Ramadan, people develop a longing need for collaboration.

Thanks to this reinvigoration, many develop a sense of satisfaction from this special atmosphere of collaboration. Therefore, it’s understandable to see team sports being picked up by people, as it’s an ideal way to forge closer ties with friends and neighbors, some of whom we only see during Ramadan. This is still seen among our communities when neighbors form and administer their own makeshift volleyball yards and football fields. This communal activity is a clear example of the sense of belonging Ramadan grows within us, and it’s channeled through sports.

Ramadan also gives birth to different business patterns that corporations utilize by using this month as an opportunity to promote themselves. Moreover, Ramadan can provide corporations with new ways to increase their income by catering towards people’s interest in sports through hosting Ramadan tournaments.

In addition, Ramadan represents vacation time for many people, with some opting to take time off their professional responsibilities. As a way of maximizing this free time, people participate in sports as means of getting into shape and having fun.  Some may find that this can be a difficult month to maintain when it comes to our eating and sleeping schedules. As result, people respond with a knee-jerk reaction to this temporary change of lifestyle by overdosing in sports.  Furthermore, Ramadan aligns everyone’s schedules with most of us sharing more or less similar routines, so it becomes easier to gather people for to practice a sport.

Unfortunately, people’s interest in sports suddenly fades away as the holy month comes to an end. As soon as Ramadan is over, many of us though have taken great strides towards revamping our attitude to the better; we nose dive back into our routine and abandon the transformational habits we acquired in Ramadan.  Subsequently, instead of Ramadan being the start of a new way of maintaining sports as the norm in our lives, it turns into a mere pit stop.

Neighborhoods and communities should continue to cement sports as part of their communal activities by diversifying their intensity across the year, instead of pulling all their efforts during this month alone. Moreover, companies promoting sports during Ramadan should continue to host sporting activities throughout the year and look for better ways to spin off the success they achieved during the holy month. There are plenty of good things happening during Ramadan, but our ambition is to learn how to cascade them down to the rest of our lives, instead of just one month.