Meet Charlotte, who is 13 years old and in Form 9 at the British International School Abu Dhabi. Charlotte is an amazing athlete and her many hobbies consist of football, Muay Thai kickboxing, Crossfit, Obstacle racing, netball and athletics. This is Charlotte’s story and her commitment and dedication makes her one of Yalla’s Rising Stars.
I am captain of the U14 Girls Abu Dhabi Thistle football team, I train every day, Sunday through to Thursday with games on Saturdays. I train in the kickboxing gym at least twice a week and Crossfit once or twice a week to maintain my overall fitness. All of the sports I do contribute to OCR racing (more specifically Spartan Races). Football helps me a lot with the running side of the races, most of which are 5K and Kickboxing/Crossfit help with building strength and general fitness to complete the obstacles.
I started off initially doing the children’s races ‘for fun’ about two years ago and my first one was a children’s Spartan Race in Sharjah which I was placed 1st in my age group. As time progressed and I became more confident on the courses, I started doing the Adult’s Spartan Sprints (5K) and any other OCR 5K. I have completed 5 adult OCR races (3 Spartans and 2 other OCR races).
Most recently I completed the Ladies Only Spartan Race at Jebel Ali Racecourse and was placed 55th out of 716 overall and 4th out of 12 in my age group, it was a very big achievement for me.
In the future I aspire to be a professional athlete whether that be Football, Crossfit, Kickboxing or OCR racing; I would like to have a successful career in one of them.
Afterwards, I would like to share my skills and knowledge with others (specifically the younger generation) and become a coach for whichever sport I choose to compete in.
