Soccer coach shows diversity is our DNA

When Zohal Shahalami immigrated to Australia with her family in 2013, she started playing soccer as a way to connect with others. A few years later, she joined Logan’s Bethania Rams women’s team and saw the opportunity to make those connections even more meaningful by forming a dedicated Afghan women’s football team.

Zohal is Afghani Hazara but grew up in Pakistan. From a very young age in a context in which it was frowned upon she started questioning issues like gender politics: ‘When I was growing-up I was put down because I was a girl; I didn’t like it. I always wanted to tell people that they can do whatever they want to, I wanted to push females to do the best in whatever they do. Many people blame Islam for restricting women but it’s more of a cultural thing’.

She arrived in Australia at age 14 after her parents left Pakistan due to volatility in the region. In her Persian-run school in Pakistan she’d thrived because as Zohal explains: ‘Persian culture encourages women to play sport and so I played badminton, table tennis and volleyball. And I felt safe playing at school. It wasn’t safe for me or my brothers actually, to play on the street in Pakistan’.

When she initially moved to Australia, she watched from the sidelines while the boys played soccer. True to style, while she’d never played soccer before, she watched the rhythm of the game and thought: ‘I’m pretty sure I can do that’. Many of the boys refused to pass the ball to her so she applied her steely determination ‘and got good really quickly. Then they started playing with me,’ she says with quiet confidence.

As is so often the case, a teacher saw her play and encouraged her to join a team. After playing a a few different clubs, she found her football home the Bethania Rams in Logan. The Rams is a skilled and diverse team, including Afghani, Australian, African and Islander players. She felt immediately at home.

Always questioning, the experience of attending a national Christmas tournament with teams from around the country but no Brisbane girls team, spurred her into action. She set up the Panthers two years ago and recruits all levels of ability from aged 9–13, using the team as an environment in which to push younger girls to improve their health and wellbeing.

It’s so much more than just playing soccer Zohal explains: ‘Me, I’m a really open-minded person. I perpetually question how my culture or religion wants me to be. I’m not there to judge the players I coach. They talk to me about their personal stuff and honestly, there’s always something going on – someone’s always trying to put these girls down. But after two years I see improvement in their skills and their confidence, I see them coming out of their comfort zones – it makes me so happy.’

Zohal loves Logan: the people and the emphasis on sport. ‘I have so many friends with good sporting talent. They have this determined quality when they play. They have goals and achieve what they are aiming to do’.

With 125 sport and recreation facilities across the city, it’s no surprise that soccer is the second in a top-10 list of activities chosen by Logan children (after swimming and diving), the majority of whom participate via a sport or recreation club.

According to the most recent Active Logan Participation Study, Logan people are significantly more active than Queenslanders and the nation. In fact, 76.9 per cent of residents are active. If you are a sport, fitness and recreation nut, Logan is the place to be.

Zohal’s passion also extends to food. ‘Logan is so diverse with so many flavours and restaurants. In Brisbane it’s all fancy stuff and they don’t care as much about food from third world countries, but the Afghan and Lebanese restaurants in Logan are more traditional. You can even get Mantu – dumplings stuffed with beef, yoghurt, chili, and mint. It’s a common but fancy dish where I come from that you serve guests.’

Zohal is a support worker for Multicultural Australia and helps to relocate and assimilate new Afghan immigrants helping with fundamentals like setting up bank accounts, Medicare and making appointments. Refreshingly, during these interactions she can speak Dari, her native language. ‘It’s a really good job for me, it makes me feel like I am doing something and making a difference for people that need it. I like doing a job that has a real purpose.’

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