Basketball star creates a hoops haven for girls

ST. PAUL >> NORTH END

Jamad Fiin leads a group of young basketball players in crossover dribble drills at the North End Community Center in St. Paul last week. Fiin, 26, a Boston-bred former professional basketball player with the Somalia women’s national team, plans to work with school-age girls during an open gym Thursday evenings at the rec center this summer. PHOTOS BY JOHN AUTEY — PIONEER PRESS

Fiin, left, welcomes a young basketball player at the rec center. Fiin has more than 1.2 million fans on Instagram and 2 million on TikTok.

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By Frederick Melo and Safiya Mohamed

Pioneer Press

On a recent Thursday evening, 14-year-old Nubia Rhamato met one of her celebrity heroes at the new North End Community Center in St. Paul.

Jamad Fiin, a Boston-bred former professional basketball player with the women’s national team in Somalia, doubles as a social media influencer with more than 1.2 million fans on Instagram and 2 million on TikTok.

“I follow her!” said Rhamato, excitedly.

Rhamato’s mother, Habiba Feki, might have been even happier to see the 26-year-old Fiin lead a two-hour open gym session targeted to girls. Fiin, who wears a Muslim headscarf as she dashes down the court, said she expects to return to the community center Thursday evenings throughout most of the summer to drill, dribble and shoot with young ladies.

“We really need something like this, especially with summer coming,” said Feki, of Woodbury, who said many immigrant families keep their daughters close, sometimes to their children’s detriment. “We don’t want them just sitting home on the phone all the time. … As a parent, we just let the boys go to play, but we don’t send the girls.”

As a basketball captain at Emmanuel College in Boston, Fiin developed a reputation for fierceness on the court and patience with younger players on her team. Not every spectator was accustomed to seeing a female athlete wearing a full set of lashes and a hijab, the Muslim headscarf. Fiin bore both with pride, earning her a spot a few years ago in a Google Pixel television ad.

“She taught me everything,” said Yan Man, an athlete from Hong Kong who was new to the United States when she walked onto the Emmanuel College court. “She was helping me to adapt to everything, from basketball to life in general. Her family adopted me. She was like my big sister. Younger girls really looked up to her.”

Man later transferred to the Division I Iona University in suburban New York, while Fiin went on to play for four years with Somalia’s national team, competing in Dubai, Uganda and Tunisia.

Jamad Basketball Camps

Since then, Fiin has hosted basketball tournaments and clinics in the United States, Canada, Sweden, England and Africa through Jamad Basketball Camps, and inspired a hefty social media following. Most of her work involves other Muslim girls who play while wearing their hijabs.

Growing up, Fiin said she didn’t see many women who looked like her playing basketball. Even so, she joined her college basketball team and gained the confidence to compete while wearing the hijab. “They didn’t judge me because I had a scarf on my head,” said Fiin. “They welcomed me with open arms.”

Her fame, rather than place her out of reach to everyday Somali-Americans, has done just the opposite. In a phone call, state Rep. Samakab Hussein, DFL-St. Paul, urged Fiin to swing by the new North End Community Center in St. Paul, where she has plenty of friends and relatives, and work with young girls on their basketball skills.

She said yes, and brought Man with her. On June 4, Fiin — better known by her first name — spent two hours with school-age girls during a girls-only open gym at the new rec center at Rice Street and Lawson Avenue. She and Man plan to return from 6 to 8 p.m. each Thursday night for the better part of the summer, helping with drills during the second hour while keeping the drop-in environment casual.

“I called her and said, ‘Come to the North End.’ We really need it,” Hussein said, noting many immigrant families are hesitant to let their daughters hang out at rec centers unattended. “A lot of people have responded to us and said this is really needed, especially for young Muslim girls who are stuck at home or in public housing. Many young girls love to see someone who looks like them play basketball.”

“A lot of parents bring their kids; they’re very open to the idea,” Fiin said. “People are becoming more accepting of their girls if they want to play any sports.”

Man, who took inspiration from Fiin and has hosted her own basketball clinics in Hong Kong, said she expects to stick around St. Paul and support her mentor until preseason workouts. Also on hand for the inaugural girls-only open gym in early June were Hussein, St. Paul City Council Member HwaJeong Kim and members of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office.

St. Paul Parks and Rec Director Andy Rodriguez said he’s seen the demand for girls-only or girls-mostly gym sessions, and hopes to create more such opportunities in the future, though scheduling around organized youth sports can be difficult. Competing with boys for court time can be intimidating for many girls who want to play in a judgment-free, hassle-free environment.

“We’ll start here,” said Rodriguez, noting the gender restrictions are light. “If we have a sibling or something here, we’re not going to kick them out.”