Emirati surfer Mohammad Rahma tries to make waves in global surfing competition. Mohammad Rahma talks about being the region’s only entry in the global surfing arena and the challenges of being an Emirati surfer. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv
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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