Athletes from the University

KFUPM’s students have always demonstrated that their excellence displays not only in science, but also in sports. They participate in all sport competitions to confirm that discipline and commitment is their secret trait, and that they have a culture of winning in various activities.

Nawwaf Al-Sultan and Ibrahim Al-Ghowaish are two shining examples of distinguished students and hero athletes. Both of these students have successfully managed to harmonize their studies at KFUPM, a University known for its seriousness and rigor, and their excellence in tennis and swimming. Representatives from KFUPM met with them to review their successes stories.

Last year student and Saudi universities champion in tennis, Nawwaf Al-Sultan, said that he started practicing tennis since the age of nine through the Saudi Tennis Federation (STF) training center in Riyadh. He added, "I trained for two years, and at age of eleven was chosen by Alhilal Club, and after four years, we could achieve Saudi’s Junior then Youth Leagues for four consecutive years from 2007 to 2011. He continued, "I joined the national team’s juniors in the 2006, then youths, and in 2011 I joined KFUPM and ceased my involvement with the team because it was difficult to keep up with the team since the game would require me to have training camps for long durations. I had to choose between the University and professional tennis career, and I have chosen the University."

Al-Sultan started to talk about his career with Saudi Arabia’s tennis team by saying, “during my involvement with the team, the best achievements were achieving bronze in Arab’s championship, silver and Arab Gulf’s championship, and entering the rankings of tennis players in 2009.”

KFUPM’s students have always demonstrated that their excellence displays not only in science, but also in sports. They participate in all sport competitions to confirm that discipline and commitment is their secret trait, and that they have a culture of winning in various activities.

Nawwaf Al-Sultan and Ibrahim Al-Ghowaish are two shining examples of distinguished students and hero athletes. Both of these students have successfully managed to harmonize their studies at KFUPM, a University known for its seriousness and rigor, and their excellence in tennis and swimming. Representatives from KFUPM met with them to review their successes stories.

Last year student and Saudi universities champion in tennis, Nawwaf Al-Sultan, said that he started practicing tennis since the age of nine through the Saudi Tennis Federation (STF) training center in Riyadh. He added, "I trained for two years, and at age of eleven was chosen by Alhilal Club, and after four years, we could achieve Saudi’s Junior then Youth Leagues for four consecutive years from 2007 to 2011. He continued, "I joined the national team’s juniors in the 2006, then youths, and in 2011 I joined KFUPM and ceased my involvement with the team because it was difficult to keep up with the team since the game would require me to have training camps for long durations. I had to choose between the University and professional tennis career, and I have chosen the University."

Al-Sultan started to talk about his career with Saudi Arabia’s tennis team by saying, “during my involvement with the team, the best achievements were achieving bronze in Arab’s championship, silver and Arab Gulf’s championship, and entering the rankings of tennis players in 2009.”

After his enrollment in the University, Al-Ghowaish joined the first team; and in his first participation in the universities championship, he achieved two silver medals. He said he was looking forward to greater achievement but the conditions did not help. He added that after joining the University, the exercise distance shrunk from 16 km to 3 km.  He continued, “The level of readiness in the first championship was surprising for me. Despite my participation in the Gulf, Arab and Asia championships, and my expectations to achieve golds, the other teams had preparation camps three months before the tournament. Moreover, the other universities’ teams included players from clubs and the national team. On the other hand, our team did not perform any preparations, and I have been training alone one month before the Championship, and never got to meet the rest of the team till the first day of the competition." He said, “We need to set our goals. If we want titles, we need put much more time and effort on preparing for each title.”

Al-Ghowaish hopes swimmers would be given more chances before tournaments to prepare, adding that if there were training programs committed to clear plans, and participants obliged to these programs before the start of the tournament, better results could be attained. He mentioned that the other universities attract top athletes from high school and encourage them to join the University, and the get financial support.

He added that studies confirm that 99% of the superiority of the swimmer is because of training, and only 1 percent comes from talent and personal abilities. Currently, sport is an industry develops so fast, and any absence of the practitioner causes a lag, and it is difficult for him to catch up, pointing out that he has reached the stage where he can train himself and use references and follow updates on internet.

"I am currently struggling to reconcile study with my favorite hobbies. I put a lot of effort to get to this stage at pool swimming, and I want to continue to develop my abilities while keeping attention to my studies. This is a big challenge, but I will try my best to beat it."