School Sports

Memories Monday #12

Week 3 of Term 1 in Dubai often signals the start of extra-curricular activities in schools across the city. Schools boast about the number of activities they have available and the number of students involved in them. For many schools, sports feature strongly in their lists of offerings, and trophy cabinets attest to past successes.

Almost every sport imaginable is on offer here — from the classics like football, tennis, and swimming, to the unexpected: skiing, ice hockey, figure skating. Then there are the niche and creative options like water polo, parkour, and kung fu. Outside of sports, schools offer a huge variety of academic and hobby-based activities — debating, Model United Nations, robotics, crochet, origami, baking, and more. Most schools will have a mix of free activities led by teachers and paid ones run by external providers. And if your chosen passion isn’t on the school’s list you’ll surely find somewhere in Dubai offering it on afternoons or weekends.

When I think back to my own school days, the options were far more traditional. Sports were divided into winter and summer seasons. I played netball every winter from ages 8–12, with swimming lessons in summer months. I also tried a season of marching and field hockey. Friends played rugby, soccer, tennis, cricket, or joined the athletics, smallbore rifle, or pony clubs.

I was never a sporty child — short, slow, and a scared of the ball — but I stuck with netball for several seasons and by the end of primary school, I’d progressed to ‘not terrible’. I loved that netball was fast-paced, high-scoring, and required the whole team working together. We had volunteer coaches who arranged practices at school during the week, then every Saturday morning we’d play at the local courts. The youngest grades always played the earliest matches, and I remember one morning arriving to find the fire department hosing ice off the courts so we could play.

Swimming was equally unsuccessful, but learning to swim was a non-negotiable. Our school pool had been damaged by a tornado just before I started school, so we had lessons at the public pool. Tuesday and Thursday evening through summer were spent down at the pool learning the different strokes and doing laps. We developed a tradition of cutting our hair short at the start of the season, so it wasn’t such a battle dealing with swimming caps and wet, tangled hair. Even in summer, evenings were often cold and evening running. But sometimes there’d be a hot milo when we got home.

At high school I went to the netball try-outs but only made the “C” team, so switched to hockey instead. I did a lot of running but didn’t hit the ball much. It didn’t help that I was short-sighted and didn’t wear my glasses for games because they fogged up in the cold and rain. I spent a lot of time guessing where the ball was based on the direction other players were running. After being awarded ‘Most Improved Player, I retired from school sports, aged 14.

Most Improved Player

Coming to Dubai and seeing the amazing variety of sports available at schools I’m openly a little jealous. I’m proud that I stuck with sport as long as I did, even without much talent or passion for it. Sports, both team and individual, teach valuable life lessons: discipline, resilience, the importance of showing up for others, and how to win and lose with respect for others and yourself. When looking at schools in Dubai, it can be worth asking about their sports programmes. Your child might be particularly talented, and hoping to be in a competitive team. They might benefit from schools at the top of league tables, or offering elite performance programmes. You might be looking to stay connected to your national identity through the sports your child plays, and the communities that gather around them. For parents of young children variety is often attractive, alowing their children to experiement and follow their interests as they develop. At Navigate.Ed our consultants will ask about sporting interests to help find the best school for your child.