Team Nova Scotia Athlete Profile – South Shore
Heading to her first Canada Games this August, Shahad Alouch wants to do more than just compete.
“Whether you’re new to the sport, from a different culture or faith, or just unsure if you belong, I want to be proof that you do. There’s space for all of us in sport, and I’m happy to be part of that message,” says Shahad.
The 17-year-old from Chester, Nova Scotia, is a member of Wrestling Nova Scotia’s Women’s Team, and will be competing in the up to 65kg weight class. After immigrating to Canada with her family in 2019, Shahad wrestles with a hijab as a Muslim athlete.
“I’m really excited to represent Nova Scotia and represent my religion respectfully as well,” she says. “I’m excited to bond with my teammates, meet new athletes and just take every moment and make a lot of memories that I’ll never forget.”
Shahad also hopes to learn from different athletes while at the Games, which is the same mentality she brings to all her competitions.
“Even if I lost, I don’t only lose, I also learn from my matches as well. But my biggest goal is like, OK, I worked for this and now I want to show what I can do, not just to win, but to show how much I’ve improved.”
Going into her last year at Park View Education Centre this fall, Shahad fully committed to wrestling in Grade 10, and has had great success so far in her career. Earlier this year she came first in the Senior Female 69 kg Weight Class at the 2025 School Sport Nova Scotia Provincial Wrestling Championships.
Amanda Silver, who coaches wrestling at Park View Education Centre and is the 2025 Canada Games Team Nova Scotia Wrestling Head Coach, says Shahad was an inspiration for everybody during provincials, not only for her win, but for competing so well during Ramadan.
During Ramadan, Muslims don’t eat or drink during daylight hours. This meant Shahad had to eat during sundown while making sure she was still well-rested for her matches.
“Wrestling is a very intense sport, and you need to hydrate and do all of those things.
So for Shahad, she had to work extra hard,” says Amanda. “Her commitment to the sport and to her faith was amazing during that time.”
Shahad started wearing her hijab the first year she started competing, and initially this brought some challenges.
“It’s part of me, and if I want to wrestle, which is really something that I want to do, I can. I believed in myself, and Amanda too made me believe that I could wear my hijab and I could also wrestle. That’s what made me stick to it,” she says.
Shahad says how she got into wrestling is a funny story. While at school in the eighth grade, her gym class was told they were going downstairs to do wrestling, but at the time, Shahad didn’t know what wrestling meant in English.
“I was excited but a little nervous. I went downstairs; I saw a couple of moves and the coach invited me to come to the practices. I was like, ‘I’ll give it a try,’ and I started enjoying it,” she says.
Committing a few years later, Shahad has now found a community in wrestling.
“All of us being together, it feels like a family to be honest. We work together, we work hard, so it’s a second family to me, a wrestling family. And I always say that to my family too and they are happy to hear it.”
