Kiandra Brown had little interest in religion, which grew up in multicultural Montreal. But she had a heart that piqued her curiosity. “If you know Kiandra, you know that she's questioning everything,” her mother, Cheryl White, said with a loving laugh.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Brown was a high school senior who spent a lot of time on her, and began to consider issues of faith. Soon she was asking her Muslim friends about Islam. When Brown, who was eventually converted to Islam, stripped off the backpage of the Quran, she discovered that much of the message resonated with her, especially in relation to her basketball ambitions.
Necessary structure and discipline – Stop for prayer five times a day and fast in the holy month of Ramadan – reflects the commitment requested by elite athletes. The concept of sisterhood and her ego aside reflect the fabric of team sports.
“As someone who already has a very disciplined lifestyle, Islam makes sense,” she said.
However, when Brown lurks deeply in her religion, she is given a conflict. The women's basketball uniforms with shorts and tank tops did not conform to the humility of more stringent Islamic standards. But wearing her head scarf, hijab, and baggy pants and loose, long-sleeved shirt, she was presented with her unique challenges on the basketball court by revealing her body much.
“It feels like I'm wearing a garbage bag,” she said.
Brown was able to do it at Indiana University, where he first began his college career, and at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. But she wondered why Muslim women who were passionate about sports didn't have clothing options. It's more cumbersome than XXL's male athletic wear and is more affordable than $100 name brand clothing.
In the end, Brown arrived at the solution. Start a business selling affordable, modest athletic wear.
At least for now, it's a very small business. There is no website. She receives orders directly via message on Instagram. And she sells about 12 costumes a month. Smaller scale is required for those who have a Master's degree in Business Administration, play basketball and work as personal trainers.
“It's difficult to grow business in college,” Brown said. “That's not my 9-5.”
What helped, however, was the abundant reveal that there is a global market for women who prefer not to exercise with sports bras and skin-friendly leggings. Brown is scheduled to graduate in May and will seek investors to expand his business once he graduates from school.
Not too long ago, Brown would have been banned from such ventures, but the NCAA, the governing body for university track and field, was forced by the passage of state law in 2021 by allowing athletes to benefit from the use of their names, images and likeness. And before last season, the NCAA chased the bodies dominating other athletics to ease restrictions that require athletes to apply for exemptions to wear religious hats if they are safe to compete.
Still, wearing a hijab is not permitted in some circles.
France, which hosted the Paris Olympics last summer, said it had violated secularist laws that banned athletes who viewed wearing civil servants as civil servants and banned civil servants from wearing open religious symbols while performing their duties. Similar restrictions apply in Brown's hometown of Quebec, for teachers, police officers and other civil servants.
A handful of university athletes play with the hijab. Brown is one of three Muslim players on the Duquesne team, but she is the only one wearing the hijab. Earlier this season, Kanisius University freshmen Brown and Yasmin Ghibril were considered to be the first two college basketball players to compete against each other in hijabs.
“To be honest, it's not about how much sales I spend, it's about all the messages I get on social media and people who appreciate me,” Brown said. “It removes the barrier for women who want to exercise but feel overheated or uncomfortable, and they find it too complicated to find what they need to wear.”
Brown said he believes that covering her body in loose clothing is a form of female empowerment that encourages men to appreciate her intelligence, talent and personality. “Women are very objective and sexualized,” she said. “My hijab doesn't allow anyone to do it to me.”
Last month, a group of Chicago Muslim girls that Brown coached at the clinic last summer came to watch her team play. After a recent home game, Ebtehal Badawi, wearing a hijab, brought in his 14-year-old daughter, Leial, to meet Brown, who had signed an autograph with his teammate. Soon, Badawi said, her daughter would decide whether she would like to wear a hijab or not.
“Kyandra is a role model for little Muslim girls if they choose to cover,” says Badawi, an avid distance runner who founded Pittsburgh Build Bridges, a community organization that encourages connections by making art. “Not everyone has the courage to do what they want. I don't see a lot of women hidden at Oscars or big events. People don't want to stand out.”
Brown understands that too. Occasionally, they abandoned their opponents either cover their heads or fans wearing them. She said she was warned by friends and family when she entered the transfer portal that some coaches might view her hijab as an unnecessary distraction, but Duquesne coach Dan Burt showed his interest by asking for the coloured head covers the equipment manager stocks.
When Bert learned that after this season's road game, fans from the other side had untooked Brown, he begged himself not to protect it. “If that happens again, I'll let you stop the game,” he recalls saying.
She was first heckled in Indiana by her opposing player.
“I was really shocked at that moment,” Brown said. “Obviously people aren't stupid. They're trying to make you think about things other than the task at hand. Now that's your choice, you have the opportunity to choose whether to cause the wounds they intended or play your game.”
Her parents saw her from afar, not only had some fear, but they also watched her with considerable pride as they saw her older daughter grow up. (Other daughter, Serena, is a Stanford water polo player who represented Canada at the Parisio Games.)
White said her eldest daughter always accepted something different. Her father, Ken Brown, is grateful for her commitment. The former college football player spoke of fasting during Ramadan during a solidarity show with teammates of University of Colorado Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam.
“I lost 15 pounds, which isn't great for an offensive lineman, but it strengthened me in ways I never imagined,” Brown said. “What Kiandra is doing isn't easy. She's not considered a normal basketball player, and oh, by the way, she's a Muslim. Luckily, or unfortunately, the man doesn't have it.”
