An interview about Camel Reacing History.

Interview Questions:

 

I will interview Mr. Faisal Hamad Al Shamesi camel race farm owner and winner of many trophies in Al Wathbah.

 

1-      Tell us about yourself and when did you start in the field of camel racing and breeding?

My name is Faisal Hamad Al Shamesi. I own a camel racing farm in the Swihan area. My father was one of the known camel racing figures in the UAE, also one of the main trainers for His Highness Shaikh Zayed. I was raised with the love of this sport which allowed me to enter that field and compete to win. As a family we had camel racing farms for more than 35 years.

 

2-      Why is camel racing very important in the UAE and how is it related to UAE history?

UAE people in the past didn’t have any means of transportation other than the camel and the camels represented wealth and status. This didn’t apply to the UAE only, but to the whole region. Also due to the desert environment the camel was the only animal that could survive the environment and travel through the desert. Owning camels in the past was just about pride; they started the racing to show that their breed is better than the other. This was a very long time ago through history; still Arab bedouins follow it.

 

3-      What was the role of His Highness Shaikh Zayed in promoting the camel racing?

Shaikh Zayed's role was very important to promote the camel racing as a sport. Shaikh Zayed noticed that as the people in the UAE became wealthier with the oil money, they began to forget their past and how life was difficult; not only that but the historical sports were vanishing. He began promoting the historical sport by giving prizes in races and addressing those people who win to congratulate them in person; this made the people participate to win and have the honour of meeting His Highness. His role made camel racing sport to be a much known sport in the region and the world.

 

4-      What was the problem that UAE camel racing faced during the end of the nineties?

During the nineties the UAE and many other countries where camel racing is considered as a sport were facing a very big awareness campaign about using children as jockeys. The children were favored as jockeys because of their light weight. A lot of children were injured during races and abused while living inside the racing farms. In 2002 the UAE banned jockeys below fifteen from racing; many of them were collected from farms and taken to shelters before taking them back to their families in South East Asia. Also the UAE paid compensation to more than 800 former jockeys. 

 

5-      How did they get rid of it?

The UAE got rid of it by issuing penalties such as jail and banning from racing for those found using children jockeys. Later on the UAE forbade the use of human jockeys in camel racing and forced the use of robotic jockeys.

 

 

6-      Was the robotics jockey policy applied successfully?

Yes robotic jockey was successfully applied and now is used by the whole region. It proved to be an easier way and more successful than having a human controlling the camel. You can control the robotic jockey with a remote control while following it by car.

 

 

7-      After forbidding the child jockey and forcing robotics did camel racing participation increase or decrease, and why?

In the past not every person can afford to have a camel racing farm because of the jockeys and the multiple trainers you should have. After applying the robotics jockey, having a camel racing farm became much easier and affordable. A lot of youths joined in and begin training and racing; It was very nice to see that many youths participate and learn their history.

 

8-      Any more information you would like to add to conclude our interview?

I would like to thank you for giving me the chance to talk about such a historical sport for us all and I hope that you got lots of information that will help you.   

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Case Study Reflection

Our case study was about The Club in Abu Dhabi. We worked as a group of three and the tasks was divided between us. The first task was preparing for the club visit by one of the team members. Second task was preparing the questions. While the third was taking video and interviewing the guide. At first we selected Al Wahdah club as case study, but due to the end of season matches we couldn’t do it. Later on we suggested to Mr. Hedley to do the case study on The Club and he approved it. Moreover he suggested that he will be our guide and will take us on tour on the club and to give a history lesson about it.

The Club was founded in 1962 by British expatriates who lived in Abu Dhabi. It was located at Zayed port gate before moving to its current location on the beach before Khalifa Bridge. The old land was gifted by H.H.S Shakeout to that group of expatriates. The current location is directly on the beach front with a length of almost one kilometer and width between two hundred and three hundred meters. The Club have a wide range of facilities like Sports, leisure’s and restaurants serving the members of the club. Location and facilities make it the first club in Abu Dhabi that everybody wants to join. Surprisingly for us we discovered that the club members were not only British, but many nationalities, even some locales are members. The British club is the name that everybody in Abu Dhabi knows The Club to have, but few people, including the members, know the official name which is The Club.

Our Case study was a very good study since it allowed us to know more about the history of the club and to have a look at the facilities it offers. Every case study will sometimes have lows although we don’t considers any lows in our study, but the video was a little bit dark when we captured it directly under the sun. If we had a time machine to go back in the past we would dedicate a full day for taking videos and pictures for the facilities The Club offers.

Over all our case study was fruitful and with the help of Mr. Hedley we did have a great tour in The Club; we would love to be members of such a nice club.  

Case study: The Club 2015

Bali Trip

Sportsman of the Month: Stephen Michael James Ovett, a UK Runner.

Stephen Michael James Ovett a British athlete. He was famous in race events like eight hundred and fifteen hundred meters. He was the gold medalist at 800 meters as well as world record in fifteen hundred and the mile run. He was good at football be given it up because he didn’t want to rely on teammates. During his peak, he was associated with Coe, another athlete from UK. After he had retired, he became a track and field television commentator. A statue was erected to him located in Preston park in UK. Currently Ovett’s is living in Australia and he is 60 years old. 

I'm Thabet Marei Al Sayari.

Hi there I'm in deed Thabet Marei Al Sayari. I'm thirty and some years old. I was born during the Iraqi Iranian war and during the first gulf war I was just finishing my "th" grade. After finishing my secondary school which was science section with eighty percent I went to study petroleum engineering in USA. I visited many states studying and as pleasure trips which mostly the Midwest state with some state scattered between east cost and west cost, but mainly I was studying in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Right after 9-11 I went home without finishing my degree there. After coming back I start working as an IT because of the knowledge I experienced while in USA, It was mainly experience of breaking my friends computers. I transferred between jobs and ended up in very good one. I came to HCT to study security and forensic after realizing that our market respect the degree more than experience. In the end I hope that I will gain more knowledge while getting the degree.

Thank you for reading.