The launch aligns with SWS strategy to expand the range of sports offered at its clubs and diversify training opportunities for girls and female athletes. This aims to discover and develop athletic abilities, broaden participation, and provide training environments tailored to each city’s specific characteristics and resources.

Building girls’ capabilities and expanding their participation in sports activities

Rowing training sessions are planned for Khorfakkan in collaboration with Sajaya Young Ladies of Sharjah, an affiliate of the Rubu’ Qarn Foundation for Creating Future Leaders and Innovators. The Sharjah International Marine Sports Club in Khorfakkan will also be utilised as a supporting training site. This collaboration fosters institutional integration among entities dedicated to building girls’ capabilities and expanding their participation in sports activities, establishing the sport as a new avenue for promoting sports as a healthy and sustainable lifestyle in the city.

As part of the preparations for developing the sport and learning from specialized experiences, a delegation from SWS visited the Barcelona Rowing Club. They observed the club’s operational framework, including its mechanisms for organising different age groups, training models, facility management, and the logistical and technical services provided to male and female athletes. This visit will support benchmarking for the future launch and development of the sport.

Developing women's sports and expanding their presence across the emirate

During a visit by a delegation from SWS to learn about best practices in water sports management, Her Excellency Moza Al Shamsi, Director of the SWS, stated that the introduction of rowing at Khorfakkan Women's Sports Club represents a significant step in developing women's sports and expanding their presence across the emirate. She added, "We view rowing as a promising sport that aligns with Khorfakkan's coastal environment and offers girls a new avenue for participation and athletic development. By observing best practices at specialised clubs, we aim to develop a well-considered approach that leverages successful models in training and facility management, adapting them to our local context and the SWS's of promoting sports and developing athletic capabilities."

Her Excellency added: “We don’t view the launch of any new sport as merely an organisational decision, but rather as the beginning of a comprehensive process that starts with studying the appropriate environment and extends to training, recruitment, talent development, and activating partnerships with supporting entities. Hence the importance of leveraging specialized experiences, as they help us transform the launch into a sustainable experience capable of achieving a real impact on the sports community and enhancing the participation of girls in new sports that suit the potential of each region.”

Building sports competencies capable of leading development paths in various disciplines

The step also comes within the framework of the SWS’s objectives to build sports competencies capable of leading development paths in various disciplines. The Sports Leadership Programme, implemented by Sharjah Capability Development (Tatweer) in partnership with the Sharjah Women’s Sports, has, in its previous phases, worked to qualify specialized leaders in diverse sports professions within the sports system. This has strengthened the ability of personnel to translate theoretical knowledge and practical experience into projects and initiatives that serve the women’s sports sector.

For her part, Asma Al Baloushi, Director of Facilities at the Sharjah Sports Council, emphasised during her participation in the visit that learning about specialised experiences in sports facility management opens up important avenues for developing more integrated future projects. She said, "The importance of these visits lies in the opportunity they provide for practical benchmarking against existing models, whether in terms of facility design, space allocation, or operational mechanisms for serving multiple groups. In water sports specifically, there is a need to understand the relationship between location, training routes, support services, and safety standards to ensure that facilities can serve sports activities efficiently and sustainably."

She added, "Benchmarking does not mean simply transferring experiences as they are, but rather understanding their success factors, analysing their suitability to local needs, and adapting them to serve Sharjah's sports facility development plans. What we learned reinforces the importance of integration between training facilities, logistical services, and community spaces, especially in sports that require specialised training environments, such as rowing and water sports."

Integrating community sports activities with high-level competitive training

Her Excellency Hanan Al Mahmoud, Vice Chairperson of SWS, stated on the sidelines of the visit that developing the women’s sports system requires continuous review of models that integrate community sports activities with high-level competitive training. She added, “What concerns us at this stage is building a system capable of serving multiple paths simultaneously: one that allows the community to participate in and discover sports, and another that provides female athletes with a professional training environment that supports development and achievement. The experiences we reviewed demonstrated the importance of managing facilities flexibly and distributing usage hours to broaden participation while simultaneously providing high-level training spaces for athletes and competitive teams.”

Her Excellency added, “The introduction of rowing at the Khorfakkan Women’s Sports Club reflects a clear trend towards leveraging the unique characteristics of cities and regions in selecting appropriate sports activities and expanding the range of sports that girls can practice in safe and stimulating environments. Institutional partnerships, exposure to best practices, and benchmarking are all elements that help us translate these trends into viable and sustainable programmes.

The launch of rowing at Khorfakkan Women’s Sports Club reflects SWS comprehensive approach to expanding the landscape of women’s sports, leveraging the unique characteristics of cities and regions in selecting appropriate activities, building supportive partnerships that contribute to transforming sports into a sustainable practice, enhancing athletic capabilities, and establishing sports as a healthy lifestyle within the community.