Community Sport Abu Dhabi
Tom and I are passionate about growing community sport all around the world, and we spent this week in the UAE developing our understanding of how Abu Dhabi’s Sports for All policy aims to promote health and cohesion across society.
We discussed (and participated in) a number of great initiatives, all designed to get people active and bring communities together. We spent time with the Department of Community Development and spoke with the Sports Council, who themselves support a range of initiatives including free exercise sessions in parks, opening schools for after-hours sport and free walking, running, and cycling evenings around the spectacular Yas Marina F1 Circuit.
I was struck that inclusion was such an important theme, repeated throughout our visit, and it was great to meet with Goals UAE, an organisation that provides inclusive sports training to people living with disabilities.
On Tuesday evening we caught up with some of the great folks from the Abu Dhabi Striders Running Club, who Tom even managed to run with at 5am (yes, 5am) on Tuesday and Friday morning. They were great hosts and hugely passionate about supporting community sport.
Getting out of my comfort zone on Thursday evening, we joined over 200 people participating in a track session hosted by the Abu Dhabi Running Team. These brilliant, weekly (and free) training sessions were established in 2020 by coach Youssef, and accommodate a huge range of abilities. In our session, Captain Talib led our group around 4 x 600m and 6 x 300m intervals with 90 seconds recovery. It was my first ever time running on a proper running track, and it’s fair to say that without Tom’s encouragement I might not have made it around the final bend. I came away feeling a real connection with my fellow runners.
It goes without saying that having resources to deliver such a range of events is a huge asset. That said, at the heart of all these events is the same drive that unites all great community initiatives around the world - quite simply to break down barriers to participation and bring people together.
Going forward, we hope to support local initiatives like the Abu Dhabi Running Team to reach broader demographics and wider communities, in an even more sustainable and impactful way. We also came away with ideas for better engaging inactive people, plans for collaboration between diverse initiatives across Abu Dhabi and a number of ideas around making community initiatives more inclusive, more accessible, and more appealing to more people.
Many thanks as well to the colleagues we met at the British Embassy for their time and ideas around how to collaborate on sports and community diplomacy across the UAE.
Sitting in the airport before our flight departs, we’re reflecting on these last five days whilst thinking ahead to being home in Harrogate - with Tom coaching his U11s football team tomorrow morning and me preparing for my Daughter’s 16th birthday party. Both of these worlds feel happily connected in my mind right now and reassuringly relatable, thanks to the bridge that is community sport.
