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Sky-surfing Noora Hasan Alsharji has become the first Bahraini professional skydiver and is set to soar to new heights, as she dives from greater altitudes.
The 35-year-old Bahraini from Riffa, who works in the government, now hopes to inspire and encourage other women from the kingdom to answer the call to adventure, once she becomes the country’s first female skydiving coach.
“I developed an interest in skydiving due to my passion for adventure,” she told GulfWeekly.
“Recognising the absence of female representation in this field, I was motivated to encourage other Bahraini girls to participate in this exhilarating sport.”
To become a professional skydiver, Noora has weathered a gruelling training programme. She is proficient at Accelerated Free Fall and has already acquired the United States Parachute Association’s A and B licences.
Up next on her journey towards becoming an instructor is acquiring a C-licence.
“The C-licence is a professional skydiving certification which allows me to do night-time jumps, lead group jumps and eventually become a licensed skydiving instructor,” she explained.
To get a C-licence, she must have completed 200 jumps, including accumulating at least 60 minutes of controlled freefall time, and successfully completed 50 formation skydives, or 50 formation freefly skydives, at least 10 of which, in either discipline, must involve at least four participants.
The D-licence is the highest licence a skydiver can achieve and involves the completion of 500 jumps.
Once fully licensed as an instructor, Noora will be able to compete and guide aspiring skydivers through various disciplines and categories including tandems, students, free flyers, belly flyers, angle flyers, and canopy pilots.
She aims to eventually become the first female skydiving coach in Bahrain, promoting the sport among Bahraini women.
“Achieving this goal will require substantial effort, but I am prepared for the challenge, recognising the competitive and exceptional nature of Bahraini women,” she added.
Since she started skydiving four years ago, Noora has completed jumps across the GCC, including in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, and is already busy planning her next skydive in Egypt.
She trains regularly at the indoor skydiving centre in Bahrain, which has helped her prepare for ‘real-life’ jumps, she noted.
“I am hoping to establish a legacy for Bahraini women’s involvement in skydiving,” Noora said. “Female Bahraini skydivers need support and sponsorship to excel in their endeavours, given the insufficient attention and backing it currently receives.”
As she turns her eyes ever beyond the clouds, she wants to inspire others to live by showing them that “our only limits are the ones in our minds.”
For more details, follow @alsharji_23 on Instagram.
