Hawa Cissoko, a French defender has made 37 appearances for West Ham as since her move from France. As one of the Muslims in the team, she recently spoke about the holy month of Ramadan in an interview with Sky Sports News.
Hawa Cissoko: On what Ramadan means to her
“It means a lot of things because it’s like a new year starting because we know that we have to use this month to try to be the best human as we can. So, it’s like the beginning of something.
“And at the end of Ramadan, the best thing is to try to keep some knowledge, some behaviour, a lot of things and try to keep this for the next Ramadan coming.”
“Even when it’s not Ramadan time, I wake up every day in the morning to pray, so it’s changed nothing about my routine.
“I eat a lot. I love food. I can have my lunch and 30 minutes later, I want to eat again. So, I think this is the hardest thing. When you’re in your head, you’re fasting, and you know why you’re fasting it’s completely different.
“It’s not me going in and talking about this with them. It’s them coming all the time. It’s nice to hear that people want to help you.
“The physical trainer came and asked me that we have to make a plan about my training session, my gym session… and the nutritionist as well he came to make this plan. And I was like, this is just amazing, this is nice, to help me to be better.”
On the importance of this moment
“I feel like this is, I can’t even describe it. It does something inside because I know that everyone is with you everyone is supporting you.
“Like last year, when it was Eid day, we [with then player Kenza Dali] went to the mosque in the morning and when we came back here for the training, like just everyone applauded us and we were like, why? What is the reason?
“But we were like because they know how big this month is for us. They know how special these days is for us. And just to see all this support is just amazing, incredible.”
