00:06Golden Desert Dunes, brutal summers, and an up-and-coming winter sports scene?
00:13At first glance, it seems unlikely.
00:16But sports typically linked to sub-zero temperatures are breaking new ground in Qatar.
00:23Communities have always adapted sports to their local climates,
00:27while Europeans are used to snowboarding and skiing in the Alps.
00:31Here in the Gulf, people go sandboarding in the dunes.
00:34But Qatar wants to flip that script by stepping on ice.
00:39How does a desert nation build a culture around winter sports?
00:43I'm Laila Humaira and this is Qatar In Motion.
00:54Did you know that Qatar's ambition to carve its own path on the ice began in 2010?
01:01That's when the Winter Sports Committee was established,
01:04laying the groundwork for sports that are not quite synonymous with the Gulf.
01:09A decade later, the country debuted at the Winter Youth Olympics in Switzerland,
01:15even placing fifth in three-on-three ice hockey.
01:19Since then, Qatar's appearance on the international winter sports stage has become more frequent,
01:25participating in the Winter Youth Olympic Games in South Korea in 2024
01:30and the Asian Winter Games in China last year.
01:36That momentum is being built from the ground up.
01:39At the grassroots level, interest is already growing.
01:43A few years ago, Qatar hosted the first-ever curling training camp in the region.
01:48Today, the sport is played in schools,
01:50lighting a spark in youth that may have grown up in the heat
01:54but are embracing the challenge of the cold.
02:00These young curlers are among the faces of Qatar's growing winter sports sphere.
02:06Three times a week, they escape the summer heat,
02:09pick up their gear and glide on the ice.
02:13Coach Amna Alkayat, who started playing the sport out of curiosity,
02:17began coaching the girls' team a few years ago
02:20after assisting the head coach in a tournament.
02:25I really enjoyed it and that's what's put more passion for me
02:29to teach the people about curling
02:31and to learn them how to curl, how to balance themselves,
02:35how to enter, how to feel confidence inside the ice.
02:40Known as chess on ice, curling may look quirky at first glance,
02:45but it's steep in tradition.
02:48The 16th century sport has captivated people all over the world
02:52since becoming an official Olympic sport in 1998.
02:57But what's a game that was first played in medieval Scotland
03:01doing in the Gulf in the 21st century?
03:06For the last years, the expansion of curling is great
03:10and I'm so glad that so many countries right now play sports
03:13in like more than 70 countries all over the world play
03:16and it's grown and it's developed
03:18and we hope Qatar will be one of them.
03:21I hope we'll see a lot of fans who will enjoy Team Qatar play
03:24and win international events.
03:27Most of the girls on the team have between one and three years
03:31of experience playing the sport, but how and where do newbies begin?
03:38So coach, thank you so much for having us here today,
03:40having me here today.
03:41Can you tell me how do I learn to start curling for a newbie like me?
03:46What should I know, the basic rules?
03:47First of all, you're very welcome.
03:50And curling is a really nice team basic sport.
03:53It's a winter sport, you play it in the ice
03:56and it has some basic steps and some basic rules.
03:59So there is two teams, we have two colors as you see for the stones.
04:04So the two teams play the stones
04:06and when they finish for each team, they have eight stones
04:08and each team has four players.
04:11So we have the first player, the second player, the third player, the fourth
04:15and we have a player who is the skip
04:16and the team who throws the stone and two persons to sweep.
04:21The point for the playing is to score the, and you see the circle, we call it the home.
04:26So you have to score more, like more near to the middle.
04:31So the more it's close to the middle, the more you take the point.
04:34And when they finish this eight yellow stones, this eight red stones, they see the score.
04:40Can you teach me the movements of curling then?
04:43The most important thing to do in the ice is you have to control your balance.
04:47Yeah, because you wear and your foot.
04:51So if you're right with your right hand or you use your right hand,
04:54you put the slider thing and your left foot.
04:56The one stone, it's around 20 kg.
04:58Yeah.
04:59You see?
05:00Yeah, so we don't lift it, we just push it in the ground.
05:02Yeah, so it slides.
05:04The steps, I will let my player hand to teach you how to do the six steps.
05:12First step, you put your foot in the hack.
05:14We have a hack foot, we have a sliding foot.
05:16Okay.
05:16So the hack foot is the one without the slider.
05:19Without the slider, sorry.
05:21So you put your hack foot.
05:22Second step, you go one step forward just a little bit with the sliding foot.
05:27Then you crouch down.
05:28Okay.
05:29This is the third step.
05:30And the fourth step, you have to elevate your back from the back.
05:34And the fifth step, you have to go back with the stone and your body with the stone.
05:39And then you can go.
05:42Okay.
05:43Wow.
05:46But don't let those seemingly easy movements fool you.
05:50Having tried it myself, it's a lot harder than the athletes make it look.
05:57This is a sport about the physicality.
05:59It maybe doesn't look like that, but it is really, really tough sport.
06:03This is all about the strategy, about the tactics, thinking, thinking about your team or other team, what they do,
06:09what you do.
06:10And it's exciting.
06:13And every game is a different game.
06:15Other than strategy and the technicalities of the sport, curling also teaches values that can be practiced off the ice.
06:24The most important thing in sport and life and your everyday daily life is respect.
06:30You have to work with respect, talk with people with respect, enjoy your life with respect.
06:47For the athletes, being part of a historic chapter in their country's sporting legacy makes the experience even more special.
06:57I am so happy that I am one of the first generations in curling.
07:02There is now many young people are coming, juniors.
07:06Now we have our own arena.
07:07And I am so happy that people will come and try.
07:11That people around the world need to know that we have curling in Qatar and we have a huge team.
07:17This ice skating rink used to be a multi-purpose hall for all kinds of sport.
07:22Well now, instead of volleyball, handball or other typically summer sport,
07:26it's been transformed into a training ground for Qatar's winter sports athletes.
07:31So whether it's curling, speed skating or ice hockey, many are practicing their skills and competing here.
07:49And while you can barely feel the desert heat in here,
07:53it's always a warm and welcoming place for another group of people.
07:59The expats who have come to help develop the team,
08:02who embrace their national sport in their second home.
08:08I come to Qatar for prepare Qatar national team and especially for goalies.
08:14I come here to build one of the strongest team in GCC countries.
08:19I represent Qatar in International Sockey Federation.
08:22In World Championship, we have to have women's team, men's team national,
08:28kids program, our Qatar International League and referee program.
08:34Now everything done and we can go to World Championship.
08:37When we will win World Championship Division 4, I say we will do a good job.
08:42But now we have to work more.
08:47Goalies or goaltenders are one of the most important players on the ice
08:52and his protégé is hoping to become a solid backbone of Qatar's ice hockey team.
09:03To be a goalie, you need to be a little bit crazy.
09:05It's hard for anyone to imagine that there's someone can put himself in front of a puck,
09:10weights 170 grams, 80 kilometer per hour speed.
09:14It needs reaction time.
09:16You need speed, you need mobility, you need to be flexible
09:21because some change direction in less than a second.
09:26The puck changes the direction from right to left.
09:29So you need to have a lot of energy and power and stamina in your body.
09:33So you need to work on it to maintain your stamina.
09:37Hockey goalie is more than the half of the team
09:42because playing as a goalie, your mistake is a goal.
09:46Goalie has one job also extra on him,
09:49which is to direct his defenders, his forwards,
09:52to maintain the shape, to save the box from players.
09:57I also redirect the players as the situation is happening in front of me.
10:02So that's why we also need to read the game.
10:04It gives you a feeling like you have to be responsible on the ice.
10:09You are the responsible one for the entire 15 players, 20 players on the ice.
10:14Since we start practicing and having coaches that leads us
10:19and try to develop our skills, skating and shooting,
10:22we reach that level.
10:24As everybody knows, it's a European sport.
10:27So the one challenge that we had here as a team
10:29is to make this sport famous in the desert.
10:33At the very beginning, we were like 20 players, 25 players.
10:38But after a few years of competing, trying hard,
10:43we end up to have around 70 to 80 kids.
10:47We have a women's team, we have a men's team,
10:50and we have a kids' team.
10:51So this makes us feel very good, feel proud,
10:54especially to add in the goals.
10:56A women's team, it's not that easy.
10:59But with working together, team and Olympic committee, we get it.
11:03I hope our team competes in a very high level,
11:08and especially Olympic Games.
11:09We want to participate in World Cup.
11:12We want to participate in a lot of championships and tournaments,
11:18especially for the IIHF Federation.
11:21So this is our hope,
11:23to be the full member of the IIHF Federation.
11:29From the sweeping strategies of curling
11:32to shooting a puck in ice hockey,
11:34it's been fun showing you how Qatar is embracing
11:37and investing in a sport that may not be in its nature,
11:41but one the country is certainly nurturing
11:43for the next generation.
11:45That's all the time we have for now.
11:46Thanks for watching Qatar In Motion,
11:48and see you next time.
11:57Thank you.
