Kalba Beach Games’25

Kalba Beach Games: sport, community, and the East Coast

Kalba Beach Games are more than a tournament. Since their launch, they’ve been designed as a community-wide festival that promotes a culture of sport, supports talent, and positions Kalba as a coastal destination within the UAE.

Organised by Sharjah Sports Council and hosted on Kalba’s redeveloped beach corniche, each edition has expanded in scale and ambition. Today the Games feature beach, marine, combat, and fitness disciplines: from football, 3x3 basketball, volleyball and triathlon to kayaking, archery, boxing, tug-of-war, and e-sports — alongside community initiatives, clean-up campaigns, and strategic dialogues for Sharjah’s long-term sports development.

In 2025, the opening ceremony followed a sequence of maritime shows, the national anthem, and a documentary on previous editions. Then, after the tournament flag was raised and speeches delivered, a drone display illuminated the sky, welcoming guests to Kalba and marking the official start of competition.

Our task was to translate this entire ecosystem—leadership, city, and sport—into a coherent story in light.

Our aerial storytelling: leaders, city, and games in motion

We built the show as a progression: from national symbols and patronage, to the city that hosts the event, and then to the sports that define Kalba Beach Games.

National flag

The show opened with the UAE flag, drawn with crisp, flat surfaces of red, green, white, and black.

In protocol terms, it acknowledged that the Games sit within a national sports agenda. In emotional terms, it gave athletes and spectators a shared starting point: before jerseys and teams, they stand under one flag. Against the dark East Coast sky, the flag framed everything that followed as part of a wider story about the UAE’s investment in sport and healthy lifestyles.

Portraits of the rulers

Next came portraits of the rulers, including His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Salem bin Sultan Al Qasimi, whose patronage has underpinned the Games since their first edition.

These formations weren’t just about likeness; they visualized the connection between leadership and the event. In the context of Kalba Beach Games, which have grown into a key fixture on the UAE sports map, the portraits read as a public “signature” in the sky: a reminder that this festival of sport, family, and community exists because someone decided to invest in it year after year.

“Welcome to Kalba”

The greeting “مرحباً بكم في كلباء” appeared as a luminous script, sometimes paired with its English version “Welcome to Kalba.”

This figure mirrored the role of the drone display described in the official coverage of the opening ceremony: welcoming guests to the Bride of the East Coast.

For local audiences, it was a proud, warm gesture from their own city; for visitors and athletes from across the UAE and beyond, it made the coastline itself feel like a host.

Kalba Clock Tower

Kalba Clock Tower is one of the city’s newest landmarks: a 60-metre modern Islamic tower, visible from across Kalba and designed as a symbol of the city’s development and tourism ambitions.

In the show, the tower appeared as a precise volumetric form, hovering above the real city lights. It worked on two levels: as an instantly recognizable local icon for residents, and as a visual anchor for anyone seeing Kalba for the first time. By lifting the tower into the sky, we effectively turned the drone show into an extension of the cityscape.

Kayaking

Kayaking is one of the marine sports at Kalba Beach Games and a natural fit for a city defined by its coastline and mangroves.

Our kayak figure showed an athlete cutting through stylised waves, paddles in motion. It captured what makes Kalba unique: sport here is not just about arenas and courts, but about direct contact with sea, wind, and tide. As a formation, it tied the spectacle in the air to the competitions happening just metres below on the water.

Beach basketball

The 3x3 basketball tournaments have become one of the crowd-pullers of the Games.

In drones, we turned this into a dynamic tableau: a player rising for a jump shot, a ball frozen in mid-arc above a glowing hoop. Tight, fast, compact, and translated well into aerial choreography, mirroring the intensity and quick transitions of the matches on the sand.

Beach volleyball

Beach volleyball brings a different rhythm: long rallies, diving saves, and high blocks against the backdrop of the sea.

Our formation focused on the instant before the spike: a single athlete suspended in the air, arm drawn back, ready to strike the ball. From the beach and the stands, it read as pure anticipation, a moment that captured timing, power, and the verticality of the sport in one frame.

Beach football

Beach football sits at the heart of Kalba Beach Games, with dedicated tournaments and strong participation from clubs across the region.

In the sky, we showed a single player caught in the act of striking the ball: one foot planted in the sand, the other swung through in a clean, powerful kick. Tension and release, distilled into one decisive moment.

Archery

Archery is one of the disciplines where Sharjah’s athletes, including women’s teams, have recently shone at the Games.

We showed an archer drawing a bow, arrow aimed at a distant target. Symbolically, it spoke to focus and precision: values that underpin not just sport, but the meticulous organization of Kalba Beach Games themselves.

AirBadminton

Badminton—and specifically AirBadminton on the beach—is one of the newer disciplines that connects the Games to global events like the AirBadminton World Cup.

In the sky, we drew a shuttle suspended between two rackets, held in a moment of perfect tension as if the rally could tip either way. Subtle motion in the surrounding drones suggested the invisible arc of play—speed, reflexes, and precision compressed into a single frame. The figure underlined how the Games balance traditional beach staples with newer formats, placing Kalba inside a broader international sports conversation.

Sharjah Sports Council logo

The Sharjah Sports Council logo appeared as a clear, bright emblem, framed by subtle rays of light.

Placing the logo in the sky acknowledged the institution behind the event—the body that not only funds and organizes the Games, but also uses them as a platform to implement the emirate’s long-term sports strategy and community initiatives.

It also gave partners, officials, and media a strong visual anchor for photography and broadcast.

Kalba Beach Games identity

Finally, we drew the title “دورة كالـباء للألعاب الشاطئية”—Kalba Beach Games—in Arabic calligraphic light, echoing the tournament’s visual identity.

This formation tied the entire show back to the event brand. For athletes, volunteers, and organizers who had lived with that logo for weeks, seeing it expanded into a 3D calligraphic sculpture above the sea was a moment of ownership and pride.

Drone shows and sports festivals: why they work so well

Kalba Beach Games illustrate how drone shows can enhance multi-sport events without overshadowing them:

One story across many disciplines. With dozens of sports and partners, it’s easy for a festival to feel fragmented. A drone show can weave all these elements into one narrative arc: from leadership and city identity to individual disciplines and community messages.

Aerial “stadium” that everyone shares. On an open beach, drones become a shared scoreboard in the sky, visible from stands, promenades, and even nearby neighbourhoods. It extends the emotional reach of the opening or closing ceremony beyond ticketed areas.

Made-for-media moments. Hero frames—portraits, flags, dynamic athletes—are naturally built for TV coverage and social clips. For events that aim to promote a city or region, those images travel far beyond the venue and reinforce destination branding.

For Kalba Beach Games, the 1,000-drone show became the ceremonial hinge between protocol and play: a moment where leadership, athletes, and residents all looked up at the same story in the sky and saw their city, their sports, and their future reflected back at them in light.