Abu Dhabi Week goes on another urban adventure. This time we’re exploring the Capital’s freestyle football scene

It’s football but not as we know it. When the beautiful game meets music meets dance meets acrobatics – you get Freestyle. It becomes more than just a sport: in the hands (and feet) of its practitioners, Freestyle becomes more of an urban art form and an outlet for creative expression.

People have been expressing themselves through football ‘tricks’ for as long as the game has existed. However, in recent years this practice has gone from being a way of showing off in front of your friends, to a global phenomenon with its own leagues and competitions. A quick online search for ‘freestyle football’ videos will yield some extremely impressive displays of finesse and ball control.

And this is exactly how Zaid Issawi and Alaa Balshi, two young Abu Dhabi residents and founding members of the Flow Style Crew, first got into Freestyle.

After a chance viewing of some freestyle online, the pair were intrigued and took to the internet to find out as much as they could about it. The more they learned about the sport and the more clips they watched, the more determined they were to become freestylers.

“We started watching some of the better freestylers on YouTube doing more than one round-the-world at a time and other things that we just hadn’t seen before,” explains Alaa.

“The more we watched, the more we got inspired and we said to each other ‘we’ve just got to try this out’. So we took a ball and went outside, started juggling and that was it – we were hooked!”

Despite only starting two years ago, the boys already have a pretty dazzling array of skills. When we first meet Zaid, he gives us a quick demonstration.

For a full ten minutes the ball doesn’t touch the ground. Effortlessly using his feet, knees, shoulders and head, he juggles the ball with such control it appears to be attached to his body with a piece of string. As he picks up the tempo, his legs become a blur as they spin around the ball. Trapping it with perfect control between his calf and thigh, he goes into a handstand before flicking the ball out as his body contorts into a sitting position and he continues juggling it on his shins. With a cheeky grin, he knees the ball high into the air, stands up and catches it on the back of his neck to take a quick breather.

We are seriously impressed and more than a little curious as to how they got so good so quickly.

“We practice very hard every day,” says Zaid. “It really helps that we do it together and meet other freestylers. If you just did it by yourself you might get bored very quickly but when you’re with friends it really motivates you to step it up. You can bounce ideas off each other and, of course, have lots of fun.”

Alaa echoes these sentiments and goes on to explain why freestyle has become more important to him than normal football: “The problem I see with normal football is that if you want to become good, become professional, then you have to start at a really young age. With freestyle, if you’re dedicated and practise a lot, then in two or three years you can become really good.”

“That’s right,” adds a clearly excited Zaid. “We both play normal football for fun but freestyle we definitely take more seriously now – it’s just taken over our lives.”

We take a seat as the two boys show us some more of their stuff. While we’re watching the pair perform in tandem, for some reason we can’t help but be reminded of synchronised swimming – although of course freestyle is a lot drier, faster and more exciting.

However, one of the most impressive things for us is the sheer variety of tricks that Zaid and Alaa throw down and we begin talking about their inspiration and where they get their ideas from.

“To be honest, my idol is a breakdancer not a freestyler,” admits Alaa. “His name is Thias Lopez [aka Thesis]. I watch his dancing, his b-boy tricks, and try to incorporate them into my freestyle. This means we try to use lots of handstands and stuff like this to stand out. Freestyle is all about creativity.”

“We don’t want to copy anyone, freestyle is all about expressing yourself in your own way,” continues Zaid.

“Obviously we get inspiration and motivation from others but we like to put our own twist on it. It’s very important to have your own style.”

According to Zaid, freestyle in Abu Dhabi is more popular than in the other Emirates but it’s still small in comparison to other countries. This is one of the main reasons that the Flow Style Crew was formed – to help build awareness of the sport.

“We [the Flow Style Crew] are starting to build our reputation and we’ve already done a lot of shows. We’ve performed in virtually every mall in Abu Dhabi and Dubai but the highlight so far has to be the FIFA Club World Cup in 2010 where we did a show in the fan zone.”

And what tips does he have for anyone who wants to take up freestyle?

“Learn the basics first, don’t just jump straight into the hard stuff – you’ll get disillusioned too quickly. Take inspiration from as many different sources as you can, whether it’s videos, YouTube or other freestylers. Then practise, practise, practise. And finally, don’t forget to have fun!”

Anyone who’s interested in starting freestyle or wants to improve should contact Zaid or Alaa through their facebook group at www.facebook.com/FlowStyleCrew.

Jon Muller