Sports and leisure time
are two of the important issues in different countries throughout the world, as
humans need to practice sports for different reasons , so as to stay fit and
healthy and enhance their self-esteem ,
and they practice sports in their leisure time .
Sports are one of the
areas that reflect the development of the country they are practiced in, as
they are affected by the life style and the overall country development. So, as
the United Arab Emirates is one of the countries that have witnessed a great development
in different fields, the sports in the country, and also the way that people
spend their leisure times, obviously, change. Some might find these changes and
modifications positives, while others might not.
The best way that can
help in detecting the changes that have taken place in the UAE society in
relation to sports and leisure time is to interview a person, who has lived the
two periods, so I chose to interview my father, Ali Mohammed Almerri, who is 55
years old . He is not an old man, but he has enjoyed the chance of living in
the country in two periods before and after the oil discovery, so before and
after the boom that the country has witnessed and reflected on the different
details of life in the country.
When I asked him about
how they used to practice sports in the past, he answered me that in the past
the sports used to express the identity and the heritage of the Gulf region in general,
and of the UAE as a part of that region. The UAE is a dry land and in the past
this feature was more recognizable than today, so the traditional sports of the
country were highly related to the desert sand, where the camels and horses
rule the roost. People in the past used to flock in groups, so as to enjoy watching
the different traditional sports. He continued saying that camels and horses
races are still here in the country, but the presentation of the races is
different than before. Today there are modern tracks for races, and the places
prepared for the audience to sit are prepared in a good way and equipped with
modern facilities. So, the core of the game is the same, but the overall environment
has become more comfortable, something that is considered positive. Another game
that was practiced in the country extensively in the past was falconry, as this
sport was related to the life of people in the past because they used to depend
on falconry to hunt small animals that used to represent a major portion of people’s
food, so it was a mix of a way of living, a sport and a good way to spend
leisure time with friends. But, today falconry is taking another form, as it is
practiced in a limited way compared to the past, and today it is more a hobby
than a way of living or even a sport. In the UAE today , there are well
equipped sports clubs for the different
types of sports , and new sports are also
introduced to the country that were not
common in our day , such as the tennis , golf , pool , kick boxing , chess and others . But these
additions are also good, as these sports are international ones and since the
country has started its way towards globalization, it has to cope with it in
all ways.
