Dearborn, MI High School Football Coaches Accommodate Ramadan

At Dearborn, Michigan's Fordson High School, where 95% of the football team's players are Muslim, coach Walter Zaban has made some unusual changes to the practice schedule to accommodate the Ramadan fasting by his players. The Detroit News reported last week that most of last week's practices began at 11:00 p.m. so coaches and players could eat and drink and complete their meals about an hour before starting their practice. At Dearborn High School, where a smaller percentage of players are Muslim, practices have been rescheduled to run from 5:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Some of the players say they do not fast on actual game days, and make that up by fasting extra days after the end of Ramadan.