Al-Qalam 
By Al-Qalam Reporter
Meet passionate sportswoman Saaliha Paruk of Durban.
This sprightly 19-year-old has excelled in multiple disciplines including in karate, swimming and triathlons through the years. She now has a new-found love for weightlifting, which she started training about two years ago.
Saaliha, who studies computer engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, has encouraged young Muslim women to take on similar challenges. She said she was aware that some in the community frown upon Muslim women taking up sport.
“But keep in mind there are always Islamic friendly alternatives and family friendly alternatives. There are dojos where there are just women and you can train in your hijab if you want to,” she added.
Saaliha was only six-years-old when she first started participating in karate, and by the time she ended her schooling career, she had obtained her black belt in Gōjū-ryū karate.
“I started when I was very young. Karate for me was more like an outlet. My sensei Buddy Govender always told me that when you walk onto the dojo floor, ‘you leave all your troubles behind and just focus on your karate, focus on your breathing’. This really helped me in remaining focused over the years,” she said.
She pursued karate for 12 years, got her black belt and then stopped when she was in matric.
“I got my black belt in grade 11 and currently I am on a journey to try out another martial art,” said Saaliha.
While balancing her karate journey, she also managed to excel at swimming.
“I started swimming when I was in grade 1. I started squad training. When I got to grade 5, I joined a squad called Top Squad at my school. On most days, I would be training three times a day. I started doing galas, and I was then told by my coach that I should try for KZN trials. But I made a mistake and swam in the wrong lane and didn’t qualify back then. I carried on and did galas every week. I was told by a lot of people that I was good at it. It was their motivation that kept me going,” said Saaliha.
During primary school she participated in the Midmar Mile.
“I started swimming at the Midmar Mile and loved it. I have done a total of seven or eight Midmar Miles since I was 10-years-old,” said Saaliha
For swimming, she says it was a combination of herself, her mother, and her coaches, who pushed her to excel. “The senior training for swimming got quite hard. Also, having to swim every single day got tiring, but that’s when my mother pushed me to continue,” said Paruk.
Saaliha also learnt to play basketball and participated in the TinMan triathlon.
She believes participating in different sports really helped with her mental health.
With her new passion for weightlifting, Saaliha says there’s much more that she still wants to achieve. “Weightlifting has helped a lot with my mind and stress. In my first year of university, I started lifting. First year of engineering was quite stressful and I used lifting to balance my life. Lifting has been an amazing experience. It helps with so many things,” said Saaliha.
“Lifting isn’t an easy thing. But you learn a lot. You learn about nutrition and meal preparation. Lifting taught me many lessons. It’s therapeutic for me and I do want to find a new self defense martial art to explore, one that teaches me more self defense, especially because if I’m in a situation I would know how to respond. I want to continue to pursue a new martial art because of that,” said Saaliha who has excelled academically while taking on her sporting passions.
“I would say, especially for the matriculants this year, don’t just push your head into studies only. You have to strike a balance and look for alternatives,” said Saaliha.
She plans to juggle a few things now while completing her engineering degree.
“Looking forward I want to continue with lifting, participating in the Midmar Mile, and the TinMan triathlon too. I also want to take on personal training for lifting. I’ve been told by many people that this is something I should do. So, this is something I look forward to doing in the future.”
