00:00Emirati surfer Mohamed Rama will be competing at the Pantin Classic Glacier Pro in Spain
00:28from September 1st to 6th. He is the only Emirati in professional surfing having made his debut
00:33at the ISA World Surfing Games in Peru last October where he finished 22nd out of 90 competitors.
00:39Surfing is a reinvention for the 28-year-old who used to play in Gulf of Dubai football
00:42club and also on the wing for the Arabian Gulf and UAE national rugby teams before he
00:47injured his knee at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2008. As part of his physio he had to run
00:52through water which is where he first came across surfing.
00:55When I was a kid I played football and I played for the national team as well so since I was
00:58a kid I was a professional athlete so that was my full time job, that was what I do as
01:06a passion, as a hobby, as a job, as everything. So when I moved to rugby and then when I got
01:10injured and they told me I can't do anything else that was very depressing for me. It was
01:14literally the lowest point of my life. Part of my rehab was actually running in the water
01:19every day, every day and then one day I started surfing and I was like oh that's cool what
01:23is this? So I called my therapist and I was like what is he doing? He was like oh this
01:26is surfing and I was like oh cool let's do this. He was like oh you're not ready yet.
01:29A year later he goes like you remember you asked me about that sport you want to try?
01:32I was like yes. He was like ok let's do it now you're ready. Then I caught my first wave
01:35and since then I've been hooked to surfing. The ocean has actually helped me to bounce
01:39back because the ocean is this peaceful amazing place. It did help me to get out of my thinking
01:48of like oh I can't be able to play again. I've been this what I do all my life and now
01:51I have nothing. I lost everything. So the ocean not only just recovered my knee but
01:56actually helped me mentally. Actually helped me focus more and actually helped me let all
02:01my anger go away. So that was really good and now that's what I relate to the ocean
02:05as. So I always say Dubai is my home and the ocean is my second home as well. So that's
02:11where I spend most of my time. I've done just like local competitions. I was in Australia
02:15for two years for work and then I did some local competitions in Australia and then they
02:19moved me to the U.S. and I did some local event in the U.S.A. So it was like the NSSA
02:24which is the National Surfing Association League and then I qualified for the ISA War
02:30Games of Surfing which was last year in 2014 and that was like one of the biggest events
02:36I actually competed in and it was like on a global level but that was like countries
02:41compete against each other and that was actually really good for me to represent my country
02:46and then to also actually become into the international competitions and just test the
02:50water and since then I got hooked into competing more as I was like all my route all my life
02:56I've been competing in different sports so then I go into surfing and now I'm competing
03:00so this year I'm doing four events next year I'm doing eight events and then hopefully
03:03I keep growing growing. As you can see in Dubai we don't have much work for us to practice
03:07and I just started at a late age but what I'm trying to do is like actually to motivate
03:13younger generation is to show the UAE Nationals there is a sport called surfing. What I'm
03:18trying to do is actually bring the sport to the UAE Nationals to the younger generation
03:22to schools to universities so I'm trying to be like an ambassador for the sport here in
03:27the UAE and trying to spread the Aloha spirit here and I think the UAE Nationals here they
03:32have that spirit they have that like that personality in them but all they need is a
03:39push they need someone to show them that this actually exists here and they can actually
03:43do it and that's all it takes so that's what we're trying to do and that's what I'm trying
03:46to actually do by competing by showing international exposures is to grab the media just grab
03:51the like the globally and then hopefully that all goes down and then in a few years I can
03:55come here and just like become a motivation speaker become like a coach and just teach
04:00UAE Nationals and then hopefully in the next few years when we go to the ISA World Games
04:04Surfing instead of me by myself we have a full UAE National team competing. He's now
04:08trying to popularise the sport among Emiratis and intends to take part in more World Surf
04:12League qualifiers like the Pantene Classic to raise awareness of the sports profile locally
04:17despite the lack of waves off the UAE coast. Ashley Hammond, Golf News
04:42Ashley Hammond, Golf News
Comments