The University taught us discipline and planted in us culture of winning
· Sport is an industry and talent alone is not enough to achieve championships
· Harmonizing between studying and Excel in competitions requires prior planning
· We chose KFUPM and we realize its requirements but sport is part of our lives.
KFUPM’s students have always demonstrated that their excellence displays not only in science, but also in sports. They participate in all sport competitions to confirm that discipline and commitment is their secret trait, and that they have a culture of winning in various activities.
Nawwaf Al-Sultan and Ibrahim Al-Ghowaish are two shining examples of distinguished students and hero athletes. Both of these students have successfully managed to harmonize their studies at KFUPM, a University known for its seriousness and rigor, and their excellence in tennis and swimming. Representatives from KFUPM met with them to review their successes stories.
Last year student and Saudi universities champion in tennis, Nawwaf Al-Sultan, said that he started practicing tennis since the age of nine through the Saudi Tennis Federation (STF) training center in Riyadh. He added, "I trained for two years, and at age of eleven was chosen by Alhilal Club, and after four years, we could achieve Saudi’s Junior then Youth Leagues for four consecutive years from 2007 to 2011. He continued, "I joined the national team’s juniors in the 2006, then youths, and in 2011 I joined KFUPM and ceased my involvement with the team because it was difficult to keep up with the team since the game would require me to have training camps for long durations. I had to choose between the University and professional tennis career, and I have chosen the University."
Al-Sultan started to talk about his career with Saudi Arabia’s tennis team by saying, “during my involvement with the team, the best achievements were achieving bronze in Arab’s championship, silver and Arab Gulf’s championship, and entering the rankings of tennis players in 2009.”
He said, “Joining the University did not drift me away from playing the game, especially with the attention of the Universities Sports Federation for the game. I was happy to represent the University in the universities championships”. "I have received considerable attention by the physical education Department,” he added, “especially from Mr. Mohamed Al-Ahmed, who gave us the chance to participate in competitions. We started in 2011 our first participation, which was difficult for us, since some of our competitors from other universities were from the Kingdom’s first team. Moreover, the competition was tough because the team needed at least three players of high level to compete for the title.”
Al-Sultan continued, “We did not succeed in the first and second years, and we would be beaten in the quarterfinals. In the third year (2013), the team improved and accomplished the Universities Championship in Riyadh. This achievement was a surprise to everyone, because we were competing with teams comprising players from the Kingdom’s first team; however we have won the Championship. The reaction of the University was very encouraging, as this championship was a turning point for tennis in KFUPM.”
However, after Al-Sultan’s enrollment of the student exchange program and his travel to the United States in 2014, the results of the team in the tournament that year were disappointing. However, with his return to the University, team was able to achieve the 2015 tournament, as well as the last 2016 tournament.
On the role of the University in the development of his gameplay, Al-Sultan said that when he joined KFUPM, he has already been doing very well at the Kingdom’s level. Nevertheless, the quality of the sports facilities at the University and having players from his squad in the Eastern Province clubs helped him to continue training in order to maintain his level despite the scarcity of coaches of high level.
On the spread of the game at KFUPM, Al-Sultan noted that the a few students participated at first, but achieving tournaments in this game helped it to spread. He asserted that the physical education department made great efforts to monitor outstanding talents in this game to prepare early for tournaments. He added, "We were eager to build a core able to participate and constantly accomplish good results without relying on specific names.”
He explained that with competitors engaged with the national team at some universities, it gets hard for universities that do not have these kinds of players to win Championships, because tennis needs a different kind of preparation than other sports. He added that tennis depends on high technologies and a periodic training, and exercising it outside the clubs is expensive. Even though the University has the best tennis courts in the Eastern Province, the uptake of the sport is still lower than hoped. The future of the sport in the Kingdom depends on the organization and hosting of worldwide championships that will allow Saudi players to participate and play with international players. He added that professional tennis is too needy, and requires an early decision to professional career before the age of 15. He said, “Tennis is like studying at KFUPM, it needs time. I have chosen the University and practiced my favorite game whenever I had the chance, but professional practice is not possible while studying at the University. However, the dream to return to the national team after graduation is still there.”
Al-Sultan said that when a student comes to KFUPM, he knows their requirements and understands that the primary purpose of his existence there is to study. Therefore, even if there was more support, the student may not have enough time to exploit this support because he is busy with a more important task.
Finally, Al-Sultan mentioned that this is his last semester in the University, noting that he has received a lot of support and encouragement during his years at KFUPM. He thanked the University’s administration, to Mr. Mohamed Al-Ahmad, and to the Chairman of physical education department, Dr. Abdul Hamid Amir, pointing out that their personal efforts helped them overcome many obstacles.
On the other hand, the swimming champion, Ibrahim Al-Ghowaish, a preparatory year student, started swimming at the age of five, influenced by his two brothers and father. His first involvement was in the national team’s camp when he was nine years old. He got his first gold medal in the Gulf tournament of that age group. He continued with different teams until the age of 18, and achieved a lot of titles and medals.
Al-Ghowaish said that his last camp before enrolling in the University was in New Zealand, and he trained with a global team. After returning from the camp, he achieved seven gold medals in the Gulf Championship.
After his enrollment in the University, Al-Ghowaish joined the first team; and in his first participation in the universities championship, he achieved two silver medals. He said he was looking forward to greater achievement but the conditions did not help. He added that after joining the University, the exercise distance shrunk from 16 km to 3 km. He continued, “The level of readiness in the first championship was surprising for me. Despite my participation in the Gulf, Arab and Asia championships, and my expectations to achieve golds, the other teams had preparation camps three months before the tournament. Moreover, the other universities’ teams included players from clubs and the national team. On the other hand, our team did not perform any preparations, and I have been training alone one month before the Championship, and never got to meet the rest of the team till the first day of the competition." He said, “We need to set our goals. If we want titles, we need put much more time and effort on preparing for each title.”
Al-Ghowaish hopes swimmers would be given more chances before tournaments to prepare, adding that if there were training programs committed to clear plans, and participants obliged to these programs before the start of the tournament, better results could be attained. He mentioned that the other universities attract top athletes from high school and encourage them to join the University, and the get financial support.
He added that studies confirm that 99% of the superiority of the swimmer is because of training, and only 1 percent comes from talent and personal abilities. Currently, sport is an industry develops so fast, and any absence of the practitioner causes a lag, and it is difficult for him to catch up, pointing out that he has reached the stage where he can train himself and use references and follow updates on internet.
"I am currently struggling to reconcile study with my favorite hobbies. I put a lot of effort to get to this stage at pool swimming, and I want to continue to develop my abilities while keeping attention to my studies. This is a big challenge, but I will try my best to beat it."