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ADVENTUROUS football ace Deena Rahman has gone from being on top of the world, whilst playing at the highest altitude ever, to getting down to earth and kicking once again for a great cause on the planet’s lowest point.
It was a case of a game of two halves and two extremes as the mighty Bahrain midfielder reached a peak of endurance on Mount Kilimanjaro and has now played her heart out close to the Dead Sea in Jordan.
The Bahrain international, head coach and owner of Tekkers Academy, is a valued supporter of the Equal Playing Field (EFP) project which is paving the way for gender equality in sport, pushing for equal representation and respect on the pitch and in life, as highlighted previously in GulfWeekly.
This international initiative will also be setting another Guinness World Record. Deena, 35, said: “Having played the highest altitude football match ever on Mt Kilimanjaro last year the EFP movement’s next challenge was to play at the lowest!”
The lowest exposed land on Earth is at the Dead Sea shore, at -413 metres.
“The whole ethos of it is to raise awareness of gender equality and use sport as the vehicle to spread the message,” Deena explained. “If just one girl takes up a sport and follows her dreams, and the local boys accept that that is her right, we will have achieved something valuable. Hopefully, it will be many more than one!”
The Jordan Quest 2018 was supported by His Royal Highness Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan and the Asia Football Development Project to coincide with the recent AFC Asian Women’s Cup tournament won by Japan who narrowly beat Australia 1-0 in the final.
According to Deena, the people of Jordan were very welcoming and the campaigners received genuine support from the royal who she met.
Deena joined a squad of 32 of the world’s top footballing women, accompanied by camera crews and support staff, for the match challenge.
During a 12-day adventure, the squad played exhibition games and conducted camps across the country before setting off towards the Dead Sea to play. They completed the world record for playing the highest and lowest FIFA games in history in less than one year.
Deena said: “We conducted coaching clinics for more than 1,000 girls during a 90km trek to get to the pitch, which was especially built for the game and is being left as a lasting legacy for the local community.
“The whole Jordan experience was exceptional! We did a lot of team bonding, raising awareness and played exhibition matches in Amman and Petra.
“The coaching clinics were a highlight. Most of the young girls who came along had never played before. The smiles on their faces and excitement to be out enjoying sport really emphasised what we are about and the girls really embraced the experience.
“The big game was then the pinnacle of the trip and meeting Prince Ali, who really made the effort to support our programme, was a nice touch too.”
Despite getting on the score-sheet, Deena’s team was defeated 4-2. But she doesn’t feel she lost as the whole point was to spread the positive message and leave a lasting impression which she believes they succeeded in doing.
Deena said: “My team went 2-0 down with goals from Tunisian Sabrine Mamay and American Ashley Hall. I then scored and was followed by American Kim Smith to draw 2-2 at half time. However, we went on to lose with goals from Nepali Paudel Laxmi and Pakistani Hajra Khan.
“Playing the highest altitude game was definitely tougher physically … but this game was watched by many more people and left a permanent pitch for locals to use.
“This was down to the strength of all of us to reach our goal and the outstanding work of Nature Discovery, the trekking company we used to help run the trip. We arrived back at camp around 6pm for some well-earned food and rest!”
The next phase of the initiative is for the footballers to split into smaller teams and run simultaneous football training clinics for women and girls in several countries. Deena explained: “Now that we have built this initial momentum, it’s important that off the back of this that we work hard to proactively provide opportunities.
“Over the next year we will have clinics being conducted around the world for girls to play football. I’m aiming to attend a couple over the summer as well as to organise one in Bahrain which will complement our healthy programme at Tekkers Academy for female football.
“I was delighted that with my gofundme page, supported by family and friends, the Nasser bin Hamad Foundation and the Bahrain National Ladies Team, as well as a couple of events at Tekkers Academy, I was able to cover the cost of the recent trip.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me. I’m looking forward to the next challenge. There are a few ideas floating around and hopefully I will be involved.”
Deena, who strives to be a role model, already has more than 100 women and girls playing at Tekkers Academy and this season its U16 girls took the GCC Cup and the ladies team won several tournaments, including the first Ladies Beach Soccer event staged in Bahrain.
