In the 69th minute of Pitt men’s soccer’s second-round NCAA tournament game Sunday against Monmouth, and with the Panthers nursing a comfortable 4-0 lead, coach Jay Vidovich substituted out midfielder Bertin Jacquesson.
For much of the previous three weeks, Jacquesson had been fasting during the day in observance of Ramadan. Mindful of that and with the win essentially secured, Vidovich thought it was time to offer his standout freshman a break.
“I told him, ‘Hey, I’m just trying to make sure you can make it through the game and finish the game,’ ” Vidovich said. “He said, ‘Coach, I’ve been doing this for 15 years. I think I know how to do it.’”
These past several weeks, though, have presented a different kind of challenge.
As Pitt moves through the NCAA tournament, where it will appear in its first-ever national quarterfinal Monday against Washington, it has two players — Jacquesson and sophomore midfielder Anas Amrani — who are balancing more than just the strain and pressure that comes when a team’s national championship dreams are just a subpar 90 minutes from being shattered.
This year’s NCAA tournament coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which requires adherents to, among other things, fast from sunrise to sunset. It has been a time in which Jacquesson and Amrani’s athletic careers and faith have intersected in a way they hadn’t previously.
“I think it plays a little bit on your performance, but it’s more about the way you do your fasting and the way you hydrate your body when you’re allowed to drink and eat,” Jacquesson said. “When the weather is like it is right now, it’s harder for us because we cannot drink water, so it impacts a lot.”
It’s a month that has been important in more ways than one for Jacquesson and Amrani.
Ramadan is the most sacred month of the Islamic calendar, commemorating when Muhammad received the first revelations of the Quran, the Muslim holy book. Fasting is merely one facet of it: Ramadan is meant to be a time of increased prayer, generosity and study of the Quran, all of which are meant to instill a level of spiritual discipline.
But as it relates to the physical toll of soccer, fasting is the most notable portion. Jacquesson said he typically wakes up around 4:30 a.m. for his morning meal, also known as Suhoor, which he’ll finish around 5:15. After that, he’ll pray and go back to sleep. Once sunset comes, there’s the evening meal, known as Iftar. Both meals, Amrani said, are rich in protein and carbohydrates and come with significant amounts of water to try to make up for the lack of hydration during the day. At night, meals will often include dates, to honor Muhammad’s practice of breaking fast by eating three dates.
The fast each day serves an important purpose.
“It teaches you a lot of things, especially the patience,” Amrani said. “You can feel the poor people who sometimes don’t have meals to eat or water to drink. When you’re fasting, you can feel them.”
Intense as such a routine may seem, Ramadan is ultimately a celebration, a time when families and friends come together. The community aspect of the holiday has been limited for Jacquesson and Amrani, who are from France and Morocco, respectively, and are thousands of miles away from their families.
Complicating matters is the timing of this year’s NCAA tournament. Typically, the event is held in late November and early December, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed it back to the spring. While Ramadan and the fasting that comes with it wouldn’t have been a consideration for Muslim participants had the tournament been played when it was originally scheduled, it is now.
Though they manage, it can be a taxing balance for both players, particularly Jacquesson, who averages about 74 minutes per match and who plays one of the more physically exhaustive positions on the field. On days in which Pitt has a game, Jacquesson will eat and hydrate. With the tournament taking place in a warmer, more humid area of the country (the entirety of the event is happening in North Carolina this year) and the Panthers sometimes playing as late as 8 p.m., it is, to Jacquesson, an important and necessary step. Muslims can make up days in which they did not fast during Ramadan at a later time.
“It’s a personal choice,” Jacquesson said. “I don’t think I would be good enough to play a game if I’m not eating during the day.”
Admittedly for both players, the early days of Ramadan are the hardest, when the body is not accustomed to going so long without food or liquid. As it progresses, it gets slightly easier, which has helped Jacquesson and Amrani as games have increased in frequency and importance.
“After four days or five days, you don’t feel tired as much,” Amrani said.
The Panthers’ midfielders are far from the only athletes who have had to perform during Ramadan. Later in his career, starting in 1995, NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon fasted on game days, not taking in water until the sun had set, even during the course of a contest. That run of games included a 48-point, 10-rebound effort in 46 minutes against the Denver Nuggets in Jan. 1997. Star international soccer players like Mohamed Salah, Karim Benzema and Mesut Özil have competed in games during Ramadan. The 2012 London Olympics took place during Ramadan, as did the 2014 men’s World Cup knockout stage.
During these weeks, Jacquesson and Amrani find strength in one another, often training and praying together. Whatever struggles they may encounter aren’t happening in isolation. There’s also the support of their teammates.
“Every time, they ask us what we need,” Amrani said. “They respect our religion. They want to learn about our religion. There’s a reason why football, it’s wonderful like that. You meet French guys like Val [Noel] and Bertin. You meet German guys like Jasper [Löeffelsend]. You can learn a lot of things from them. It’s the same for them. They can learn from us.”
The Panthers’ other players gain just as much from Jacquesson and Amrani as the pair do from their teammates.
“It’s kind of an inspiration for us,” midfielder Valentin Noel said. “We see them every day without eating. Especially in this kind of weather when it’s pretty warm, we’re complaining about how it’s hot and we’re thirsty, but then you think about those guys that cannot drink and cannot eat. You’re like, ‘OK, I won’t complain this time.’”
The days of fasting this year are waning, as Ramadan ends on the evening of May 12. That will occur two days after Pitt’s game against Washington and two days before the national semifinals will be played, should the Panthers get to that point.
The end of Ramadan is followed by a celebration known as Eid al-Fitr, when family and friends traditionally come together to have big meals and exchange gifts. Shortly after that ends is the national championship game on May 17, meaning that, should things go as planned for No. 2 Pitt, Jacquesson and Amrani may have one more thing left to celebrate.
“Imagine if we go to the finals and win the NCAA tournament,” Amrani said. “That would be a perfect end to Ramadan. When you grow up you could say, ‘We won the NCAA tournament during Ramadan.’ It would be great.”
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG
First Published: May 10, 2021, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: May 10, 2021, 4:14 p.m.
