1. Being on the UAE national team is an incredible achievement, what inspired you to start playing football?

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My passion for sports was born early on in high school. I loved being active, competitive and the camaraderie of playing team sports namely volleyball and basketball was a natural fit for me. During my university studies in Canada, I tried out for the varsity football team and I have been hooked ever since.

 

2. What has been your biggest achievement so far?

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Being a player on the National Team is up there on the list for me and I am continuously feeling grateful and blessed that I got this once in a lifetime opportunity to represent the UAE in many local and international competitions. 

 

3. I'm sure that becoming an athlete came with its own difficulties, what challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

 

As an athlete you face many mental and physical challenges as you have to be competitive all the time to reach the top level and you must take care of your body from the constant strain on it. In addition, you need to sacrifice a lot of your personal and family time and dedicate it to the sport you are playing. For me, my love and passion for football has helped me overcome whatever came my way and the more I gave on the field the more I got back in terms of rewards, achievements and success.

 

4. Has the recent pandemic impacted your life or your career; if so, how have you stayed motivated?

 

Yes it definitely impacted pretty much every aspect of my life as I mostly now work remotely from home. The positive thing about that is getting to spend more quality time with my family which has kept me motivated. Also, football wise, we had to stop playing for 9 months last year which was a tough period for us as a team and we kept each other encouraged until we started training again.

 

5. What advice do you have for women who are in pursuit of their dreams?

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I would say be clear on what your dream is and articulate it for yourself first whether by writing it down, brainstorming it alone or researching it extensively and then just start acting on it. Whether you fail or you face any obstacles, once it is etched in your mind, you just keep going because you start on a path and stay on it till the end.

 

6. What life lessons have you learnt from Covid-19 that you would like to share with other aspiring women?

 

There are many valuable lessons learnt from this pandemic experience and the main one is that we need to be more respectful of the environment, nature and animals as in my opinion this is the root of the problem. We need to change our bad human habits of consumption and promote sustainable living.

 

7. What are your goals for the upcoming year?

 

I would like to study sports management and gain work experience in the sporting industry in order to have a future career in this field. I am also very interested in learning new languages as it is a great way to explore different cultures of the world.

 

 

8. If you had a choice to have a superpower, what would it be?

 

Time travel would be an amazing superpower to have with the ability to go back to the past and witness historical moments or travel to the future and see what it holds in technological advancements.