Bahraini basketball coach aspires to lead men's teams (photos)
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Young Bahraini coach Fatima Riyadh instructs her team's all male players during a training session, under the watchful eye of her daughter, in an unfamiliar role in a conservative region that has been undergoing reforms for years.
Riyad, 33, works as an assistant coach for the Bahraini Al-Najma team in Manama, but she aspires to lead a men's team in the future and win the league in the Kingdom.
"I feel like any other coach in the basketball field," Riyad said during the training session.
And the mother of a seven-year-old girl added: "In the beginning, there were misgivings, but I proved with my efforts and dedication to work that all the speculations that questioned my ability to lead the team, were wrong."
Among the challenges she faced at the beginning of her sports career was the lack of "acceptance as it is now," she says, adding, "It was strange for women to be involved in sports, especially basketball, because it was the preserve of men."
Except in some cases, including in football, it is rare for a woman in the Gulf region to lead a sports team, due to the conservative social view that pushes women to stay out of the limelight.
However, in recent years, the region has witnessed social reforms that have allowed women to play a greater role in the labor market, in sports, in the art and cinema sectors, among others, especially in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.
'bold move'
Riyad's love for basketball goes back to her childhood when she accompanied her mother to the headquarters of a women's basketball club, where she worked as a coach for the team.
"I discovered that the game depends on intelligence a lot, so it caught my attention and I loved to learn it," she said.
Riyad began training a girls' team, and then trained a boys' team, before Al-Najma Club contacted her to offer her to be an assistant coach for a first team.
For the manager of the technical staff of Al-Najma team, Raouf Hubail, the step of appointing Riyad to the role of assistant coach was "bold", saying that in the beginning, "communication was a little difficult with the players (...) but with time it became very easy."
Bahraini society is among the most open in the Gulf region.
According to government statistics, Bahraini women constituted an average of 32 percent of the total workforce in the period 2010-2019.
In the same period, it constituted 54 percent of the total in government agencies.
There are four women ministers in the 24-member government.
The player, Hussein Shaker, considered that "coach Fatima is one of the Bahraini competencies that represent the successful Bahraini women, especially in the field of sports."
"I encourage the female component to be present in the sport (...). We hope to see more examples in the men's teams," he added.
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