Syria Today | Let’s Get Physical

Words Sarah Birke
Photos Fadi al-Hamwi

Leisure time in Syria is rarely spent doing sport, whether amongst the young or old. The idea of participating in sports and exercise routines for the sake of keeping fit, while on the rise, is hardly widespread. Indeed, in sports and fitness centres it’s not unusual to see people sitting around smoking and talking, rather than exercising.

“It’s not in our culture to do sport,” Muhammad, a student at Damascus University, said. “When I finish classes I sit in a café and smoke argileh with my friends or go to the cinema. I wouldn’t think about going to the gym.”

Others like Rasha, 24, an English tutor in Damascus, would like to exercise if given the opportunity. “There are so few gyms and the prices are high,” she said. “And with all the traffic in Damascus it’s not even possible to go for a run like I used to in my hometown of al-Hassakeh.”

Sport is present in the Syrian psyche: people are passionate about watching football, children kick balls around in the streets, competitive basketball teams train every night at the Tishreen club courts in Damascus. There are national sports teams and successful sportsmen and women such as Olympic swimmer Firas Moalla. What is missing, however, is a widespread culture of sport to keep fit, according to Wassim Aldalati, a personal trainer who spent 18 years in Britain before moving back and opening the health juice bar Spirulina in Damascus.

“The difference between here and places like Britain and the USA is huge,” he said. “There is no culture in Syria of looking after yourself and regularly going to the gym or swimming just for fun. Sport has just not been part of the Syrian upbringing.”

Sport is mandatory at school in Syria, but its quality varies from school to school. Many young people recall sports lessons being frequently skipped and failing to engender enthusiasm among students.

“Some of my friends in private school had good sports lessons,” Qais Fares, 25, an English tutor at the Asia Language Institute in Damascus, said. “I studied in a public school where I didn’t know what a sports teacher looked like. Sport lessons were often replaced by maths or chemistry classes.”

Private facilities lacking
Syria has a number of national stadiums for team sports and an international-level sports city in Lattakia. But with a few notable exceptions, private gyms and fitness centres are small, cramped and not enticing places to work out. There are very few swimming pools, especially in winter as most are open air. Tishreen pool in Damascus has been closed for more than a year for renovation.

“The facilities are very poor in Damascus and outside,” Aldalati said. “Tishreen, a public sports centre, is the best I have seen in Syria. It has a spacious gym with friendly staff and no pretensions. But Tishreen is unusual. Private gyms are often in the basement of a building: they are dark and there is no fresh air. The machines are often poor quality and half the time only one or two are working. The showers are broken and dirty.”

Aldalati also says the quality of professional trainers needs improving. “People working in gyms are generally untrained and do not know about the need to work out a specific programme for their clients that includes both exercise and healthy eating,” he said.

The cost of exercise is a further obstacle. According to a sample of gyms looked at by Syria Today, monthly membership in Damascus ranges from SYP 1,500 to SYP 3,500 (USD 32 to USD 74) – similar to prices in places like Canada, America, the UK or Europe.

Barada Club, Syria’s premier gym and one of the few centres with a functioning swimming pool, charges SYP 850 (USD 18) for a single entry to the swimming pool and SYP 500 (USD 10.60) for the gym – a price out of the reach for most Syrians on any regular basis.

On the rise
Despite the challenges, enthusiasm for sport in Syria is growing, according to those working in the industry. Bashar al-Shareef, a former player for Al Wahide football team who now coaches teams at Damascus’ Barada Club and manages the al-Fayha’ sports city playgrounds, says more and more people are adding an exercise routine to their day. Interest in new activities such as yoga and tae-bo is also on the rise.

“People go for walks around the playgrounds here; they go to aerobics classes,” he said. “The media is starting to make people aware of the benefits of exercise and President Bashar al-Assad is showing his support for sport by attending matches and going to the openings of stadiums.”

Aldalati also sees growing enthusiasm, based on weight considerations for women and a want to bulk up for men.

“There is a growing awareness, especially among women, of the need to exercise,” he said. “I train 14 people, the majority of whom are women who want to lose weight. The fast-food culture is pushing people into doing exercise because it isn’t trendy to be fat, but there are few who just want to keep fit or do exercise as a hobby.”

Rita, 24, one of Aldalati’s clients, said a desire to lose weight spurred her to take up exercise. Before hiring a personal trainer she had tried everything, from gyms to pills and even plastic surgery in a bid to lose weight. Under the watchful and unforgiving eye of Aldalati, she has lost 45kg in little more than three months.

“Nothing else worked,” she said. “I couldn’t stick to a gym. I had no programme and no reason to keep going.”

Although Rita’s aim was to lose weight and be able to wear knee-high boots, she says she is now aware of the benefits of exercise and the need to eat healthily. “I will keep training even when I reach my target weight,” she said.

Change is underway, Aldalati said, but it will take a long time.

“We need education both on sport and healthy eating, billboard posters and television adverts,” he said. “People need to know the benefit both physically and psychologically of exercise. It is also just a lot of fun.”