Emirati snowboard prodigy Amenah AlMuhairi dreams of representing the UAE at the Olympics

Life

There was a time when young Arab girls were told to dream within limits. Today, they are advancing science, dominating esports tournaments, speeding past expectations and carving their own paths down snow-capped peaks. Across science, sport and digital culture, a powerful shift is underway. Young women are no longer waiting for permission to lead. They are claiming their space, competing globally and turning passion into profession. Here, we meet a changemakers who embodies a generation raised to believe ambition has no limits.

AMENAH ALMUHAIRI

17, Freestyle Snowboarder

Amenah AlMuhairi, the UAE’s 17-yearold snowboarding prodigy, is due to fly to Canada to represent the UAE in the FIS Snowboarding Junior World Championship a few hours after her Emirates Woman interview. If she’s feeling nervous, you wouldn’t know it. “I started skiing when I was five at Ski Dubai,” Amenah, fondly known as Moon, says. “It was in preparation for a family trip [to Bosnia]. Then, when we went on the trip, one of my mom’s friends asked if any of us wanted to try snowboarding. I’d never heard of it before, but my brother and I both said ‘yes!’” It was an instant hit. “I loved every second, I didn’t touch the skis for the rest of the trip,” she laughs. “I was seven, so I’ve been doing it for 10 years now.” Did sibling rivalry play a part in her initial drive to succeed? “We’re very competitive,” she affirms. “It was always about who could pick things up the fastest, who could turn the most, who could be the best – everything was a competition, I feel like that pushed me further, faster. Since my brother was older and he picked up sports relatively easily, I had to pick it up even faster.” But how easy could it be to pick up a snow sport, living in the desert? “Obviously, we have Ski Dubai, and access to that facility 365 days a year is a big positive. Of course, it’s an unconventional place to do an unconventional sport, but I am very lucky that we are close to a lot of countries that I can travel to in close proximity.” She talks animatedly about trips to Austria, Switzerland and Italy – referencing Laax (often referred to the snowboarding freestyle capital of Europe) as her favourite place to train. “Even if you have a bad day riding here, you’ll still feel good. It’s just a place where you feel happy.”

It quickly becomes clear that Amenah’s family have played a starring role in getting her to where she is now – competing on a global level, with the next winter Olympics firmly in her sights. “My mom’s family background is Alpine skiing; she has a background in snow sports, which is why she originally wanted us all to ski.” What did she think when AlMuhairi switched to snowboarding? “She was actually the one who asked if I wanted to do it competitively. We went to my first competition, and I enjoyed it so much, so after that I said, ‘Mom, I want to do this,’ and she totally supported it. She is the biggest support in my life.” That support also extended into a time when Amenah considered giving up snowboarding. “She’s never going to force me to do anything I didn’t want to do,” she affirms. While snowboarding may be her main priority, how easy is it to balance that with being a regular 17-year-old? “I still do enjoy everything that most teenagers do, but I have learned to differentiate my snowboarding, my athletic life, and my everyday life. I also surround myself with people who are as dedicated and determined to a sport as I am, and that greatly helps.”

And while it’s evident she’s now found balance, she says that being the only female snowboarder of her age in Dubai at the time was originally ‘very lonely.’ “As a kid, I was quite introverted. That didn’t help. But now I’ve grown up, there’s a big community over here of people who like to ski and snowboard, and we’re all the age where we can just hang out. That’s really cool.” After her upcoming Junior World Championship, what’s the plan for AlMuhairi? “I’m graduating high school, and then hopefully continuing training in the country I go to university in.” For now, she’s not made any decisions, but is considering represtudying in Canada. “I didn’t want to be that far away from my mom,” she confesses. “But she’s the one who actually pushed me to apply. Apparently, she’s going to be coming to visit every three months,” she says with a laugh. Beyond education, AlMuhairi has big dreams for the next decade, with a gold medal at the top of her agenda. “By the time the next Winter Olympics comes along, I’ll only be 20, so hopefully I’ve got two Olympics in me, I’ll have graduated from university, and I plan to continue to develop the sport in the UAE.” Her final sentiment is both profound and powerful. “My biggest passion currently is trying to enforce the fact that just because we come from a desert country, it doesn’t mean you can’t pursue an unconventional sport, or any dream that you have.”

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