When we think of training for the Paralympics, there are so many important pieces required in order to ensure that the athletes journey is as smooth as possible.
Equipment needs to be adapted, travel arrangements need to be confirmed and of course routines (nutritional, physical therapy) during training are imperative.
Imagine trying to keep your dream alive amidst massive displacement, death, trauma, facilities and equipment being decimated and your family and community fleeing from bombs falling. These are some of the things the Gaza Sunbirds have had to endure.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked an Israeli compound and killed 1,200 people, the Israeli army’s response on Gaza has been relentless. According to Reuters, the death toll of Palestinians, relief workers and others has exceeded 35,000 and displaced more than 2.5 million people in the Gaza Strip.
While sports may not seem like a priority in a war zone, for many athletes and Para athletes, keeping their dreams alive is imperative. As a part of the global sports community, people all around the world find connection and happiness in sports and Palestinians are no exception. Palestine is recognized by the International Paralympics Committee and has participated in every Games since 2000.
Sports can be about anything from intense competition to mental perseverance, and it can even be about basic survival. Survival through sport is exactly what the Gaza Sunbirds are doing — keeping their Para sports dreams from turning into rubble.
In 2018, cyclist Alaa al-Dali was training to compete in the Asian Games. During one of the weekly demonstrations of The Great March of Return, he was watching the protests when a bullet from an Israeli sniper hit his leg and shattered his bone.
Al-Dali’s leg had to be amputated. It was also the amputation of his dream of being a professional cyclist.
I spoke with Ali, from London, where he explained how he helped to create a global movement in Para cycling. Ali, now 24, was a Pharmacology student and had very little knowledge of Para cycling or what it might entail.
“Al-Dali said a bunch of inspirational stuff about how he wants to start a team or you know, he wants to get going and he wants to raise the Palestinian flag, or the flag of the Paralympics,” Ali said. “When the war started, we had 20 athletes doing five sessions a week. We developed quite a bit from year one. we had more stable funding. We had four or five members of staff in Gaza. Things were finally looking up for us.
“And then Oct. 7 came. Everything, even the community centre that had our bikes got bombed. We lost like 11 or 12 bikes. The team was divided into some people eventually [remaining] in Gaza and some people went south to Rafah.”
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Ali felt helpless sitting in London. “I didn’t know what the hell to do,” he said. He thought that distributing bread and providing community support through the bikes would work. It did.
The Sunbirds went viral in October for using their bicycles to distribute food to civilians in Gaza.
According to a press release from the Sunbirds, they are still continuing with aid mission on the ground and have organized more than $140,000 US worth of food and supplies.
Passion fuels perseveranceAl-Dali loves Para cycling and he feels it is a way to couple identity with his sport in order to provide an example of possibility and pride of being Palestinian.
He told me that he fell in love with cycling as a young boy in his village. He was the only one who had a mountain bike.
“I’ve loved cycling for 22 years. My bicycle is part of my soul. Cycling is everything in my life,” he said.
After he lost his leg, he continued to cycle on an adapted bicycle.
“When I started it was very difficult. I rode it and fell. And again fell, and again. To the extent that I ended up in the hospital and the doctor told me I’m not allowed to ride the bike because I will harm myself,” he said.
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