Friday, May 25, 2012

Musleh Maud Tournament Canada 2012

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Canada's Musleh Maud Tournament 2012

By Sohail Malik – Naib Mohtamim Sehat e Jismani USA

By the grace of Allah, the Canadian Jamaat held their first annual Basketball and Soccer Musleh Maud tournament. In addition to having their own local and regional teams, they invited us to participate as well.  19 khuddam from 5 different Majalis embarked on a 500 some-odd mile 4-wheeled adventure to the Great White North to participate in their auspicious sports tournament in Toronto, Ontario. 2 basketball teams represented the U.S with hopes proof that we are still the leaders in the sport. Even though we physically were in Canada, it felt as though we could have been in Rabwah Pakistan. Spending two days in peace village and experiencing the hospitality there made us realize why peace village was given its name. 

Other than the two Khuddam from Buffalo, NY, the rest of us had anywhere from 8 to 12 hours of a drive and got in the very early on Saturday.  We were told that we would be staying at someone's home in the peace village where their basement would be provided to us.  Once there we noticed that the family with three young children took the basement and gave us the first and second floor of their house to reside in. After catching up on some sleep, we woke up in the morning and I inquired about the location of the gymnasium and the answer given to me was that it is here in peace village next to the mosque. The home we were staying at on Bashir street was west of the mosque from where you could see Baitul Islam Mosque. Right behind the mosque was what looked like a white office building. This building was literally about 150 to 200 feet behind the mosque. Once inside the building you found a cafeteria, library, classrooms, offices, and a gymnasium. The gym had one full size college length basketball court which can be divided into 2 standard size courts as well. Mashallah having your own facility to hold tournaments makes it so much easier. There was no worry to finish on time, no reason to cut the games short, and you can start and finish the tournament whenever you like. The biggest benefit was that we walked over to the mosque to say our prayers and came back to the gym to play. This Musleh Maud tournament was the first big event held in this beautiful facility with Inshallah many more to come.

The tournament itself was more competitive than I thought. Although a few of the key players from here in the U.S did not go, we still had two good teams participating. Both our teams finished in the top 8 qualifying us to the tournament round but neither could get passed the first round of the playoffs. There was excellent coordination, organization and communication at the tournament. This could be due a large population living in the same area but they had many volunteers to help with the tournament. Everyone showed a great level of respect for each other especially us who were the guest there. The tournament was also telecasted live on their Canadian website for people to watch from their homes. The highlight of the tournament for me was interacting with my Canadian brothers and taking part in the delicious dinner we had with Sadr Khuddamul Ahmaddiyya Canada. There is a lot of good young talent in Canada which should keep them competitive for many years to come. Inshallah MIST is around the corner where we now have to showcase our talent. We went to their house and they showed us who's in charge. We can not let them come to our house and beat us again.  

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