AMMAN — As she enters
her fifth and penultimate year of med school, 22-year-old basketballer Yara
Hamada says she has no intention to give up her athletic career and will
continue taking both challenges head on.
اضافة اعلان
The national-team
power forward has been playing basketball for nearly a decade. “I started
playing basketball in school back when I was 13 years old. I first took part in
the Ministry of Education’s tournament, before being called upon by Coach Saif
Al-Bitar to attend the U-16 national team qualifiers. I have been playing ever
since,” Hamada told Jordan News.
A student at Irbid’s
Jordan University of Science and Technology, Hamada often has to leave her home
in the north and travel south to
Amman to attend training.
“It’s exhausting but
also quite nice. Sometimes I have had to study on my way to, before or even
after coming from matches. But I would like to make it clear that I cannot
abandon my dreams of pursuing basketball and a career in medicine,” Hamada
explained.
She added that the she
owes her family a great debt, citing their support as the reason she has made
it this far.
“Everything I have
achieved I owe to my family. I really cannot do them justice.”
While the double life
may put pressure on many, to Hamada, the two passions complement each other.
“We all experience
mental exertion, but basketball has been an escape from the stress of academics
and daily life,” Hamada said, noting that training session make her a happier
person.
The aspiring physician
confessed to having had doubts about whether basketball was worth the amount of
effort she puts in, but later concluded that basketball “is one of the most
important things” in her life besides medicine.
“Girls should put
nothing between them and their dreams. Life is full of difficulties but we only
get to live it once, and the things that make us happy are worth the
sacrifice,” Hamada highlighted, adding that focus is key to achievement.
The Shabab Al-Fuheis
player noted that she was content with her team. “… It is a competitive team,
competes regionally and provides us with what we need to succeed. I do not
think I need to look for a new team ahead of the new season.”
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