The Karate Kid

Student Sarah Alameri is making one move at a time towards her professional career goal.

It was just a hobby when Sarah Alameri started doing karate 10 years ago. But when her game medals started taking up shelf space, the NYU Abu Dhabi first year student realized she wanted to take this sport to the next level. 

Alameri won her first professional karate competition medal in Okinawa, Japan — coincidentally said to be the birthplace of modern day karate. Being a professional karate player takes hard work. The Emirati travels to Dubai three times a week to train — twice on weekdays, and again over the weekend. Besides Dubai, Alameri also has a strength and conditioning coach who works with her every week at NYUAD.

So what does a typical school day with training look like? Alameri goes to class in the morning, has her breakfast afterwards, attends another class, trains with her coach, grabs lunch, and heads to Dubai for karate training, before returning to campus again at night.

There is a silver lining in her commitment — Alameri said it had helped strengthen her personality and perseverance in the process.

Eyes on the Big Games

A packed training schedule while attending college is tiring, but passion and a firm goal help keep Alameri focused. The Premier League Karate competition sees only the top 100 players in the world competing, and Alameri hopes to earn her spot there one day. 

Impressively placing fifth at the Youth Olympics in Argentina a few years ago, Alameri will train for the qualifying 2021 Olympics games in Japan. At the end of the day though, it’s not the medals that Alameri is measuring herself against for performance.