DUBAI // An Emirati schoolgirl who is too old to play mixed rugby but too young for the senior women’s game has been told she could instead excel at netball.
Sophie Shams, 13, is still three years too young to be permitted to play her first sporting love, rugby, in the UAE women’s league.
Until recently, the Dubai College schoolgirl was one of the standout players in mixed junior rugby teams that were otherwise dominated by boys.
Her powerful defence and leadership qualities earned her the captaincy of her primary school side at Jumeirah English Speaking School.
She is highly regarded in the sport and still trains with her school team, as well Dubai Exiles and Hurricanes senior women’s sides, but is now unable to play matches.
“It is annoying because I have played with them since I was five and now I have had to change it,” she said. “I still train with them but I am not allowed to play competitive rugby with them because I am a girl.”
Happily, the teenager has a variety of options.
She has spent this Eid holiday week training under the guidance of Sonia Mkoloma, a professional netball player in Australia and former England international, at the Dubai Netball Academy (DNA).
“When Sophie was with us last year she was doing one morning of rugby, one morning of netball, and this year it is all netball,” Mkoloma said. “She is a good all-rounder and I know that whatever sport she goes into she gives 100 per cent in terms of commitment.
“Hopefully, she will still get the chance to play rugby, but she also excels at netball. Whatever she chooses to do she is going to succeed in it.”
Mkoloma thinks a variety of skills are transferable from rugby to netball — even if the latter is a non-contact sport.
Ironically, given that no collisions are permitted in the round-ball game, Shams still prefers the defensive side of the sport. However, she concedes that old rugby habits sometimes die hard and she occasionally lapses into contact-mode.
“I have played lots of different positions in netball but my favourite ones are in defence,” she said. “In all my sports I’m a defender. That’s where I play in football, and I find that’s where my natural talent lies best.
“I have to say I give away quite a few contacts in netball, and I get to five fouls very quickly when I’m playing basketball.”
Having a coach of Mkoloma’s pedigree as a guest coach this week is invaluable for Shams and her netball-playing peers, according to the DNA coach Angela Boyle.
Boyle founded the academy in 2002 and regularly coaches around 180 girls between seven and 15, and she says having an international player of high repute helping out is inspirational.
“The aim is to get these girls to a level where they are ready to play in the ladies league and capable of playing and challenging themselves there,” Boyle said. “It is inspirational for the girls to have someone like Sonia coaching them, and it brings out that little bit extra in them because of her experience.”
It is the second time Mkoloma – who played for England at three Commonwealth Games, three World Championships and two World Netball Series – has coached in Dubai.
She says players have improved noticeably since her previous trip here, 12 months ago.
“I can see the standard has improved from when I was here last year,” she said. “It is 90 per cent the same girls as last year and they have progressed so quickly.
“A year is a big gap and they can either lose it or improve. Most have improved.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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The specs
Engine: 0.8-litre four cylinder
Power: 70bhp
Torque: 66Nm
Transmission: four-speed manual
Price: $1,075 new in 1967, now valued at $40,000
On sale: Models from 1966 to 1970
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
When is VAR used?
• Goals
• Penalty decisions
• Direct red-card incidents
• Mistaken identity
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare
Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Anna and the Apocalypse
Director: John McPhail
Starring: Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Mark Benton
Three stars
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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