Interview report

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.