Six-point plan to revive basketball in UAE

Former national player Abdulrahman Obaid Abualshawareb aims to resurrect basketball in the UAE by promoting the sport in schools and increasing the participating clubs.

Announcing his candidacy to become head of the UAE Basketball Federation (UAEBF), he outlined a six-point plan to raise the profile of a sport which was thriving a decade ago.

“My aim is to make basketball the best sport in the UAE. To do that we have to think about starting from schools through the Ministry of Education,” said Abualshawareb at press conference held at Al Nasr Club.

The former Al Nasr player feels the way forward is to select talented players from schools and encourage them to play for clubs.

“How will you find best players if you don’t have competitions in schools,” he said also lamenting the fact that there are only seven clubs active in basketball now.

“Before there were 24 clubs. We have to work on this and bring those clubs back,” said Abualshawareb who also wants to increase the number of women playing basketball.

“We have only two women’s clubs teams. We hope to increase that number also,” he said.

“We want to create a new generation of players from a young age. I will appoint a committee to choose talented players from schools and give them support,” he said.

There are plans to have training centres in each emirates to coordinate with the clubs.

“We want to increase the number of players as well as the quality of training,” he added.

He has a vision of bringing the standard of basketball on par with the best countries in the region by holding regular competitions.

A board member of Al Nasr who previously served in the UAEBF, Abualshawareb is confident of generating new sponsors instead depending entirely on government funding.
“For example we can tell Microsoft to sponsor a team from America,” he said.

“We will try to support and improve basketball in all clubs and schools in UAe and have competitions between countries in the region. To make a good future for basketball, laying the foundation in schools is important," said Abualshawareb who is Senior Vice-Presidet Facilities Management at the Dubai World Trade Centre.