This story is made possible in collaboration with Zayed Sports City. Located in the heart of Abu Dhabi, Zayed Sports City is the UAE’s leading multi-sport destination.
Inside Khalifa International Bowling Centre at Zayed Sports City, a decades-long Filipino sporting tradition has built not just a league, but a second family. This is the story of how community, identity and belonging have taken root in Abu Dhabi through bowling.
On a Saturday inside Khalifa International Bowling Centre at Zayed Sports City, the sound isn’t just pins falling. It is laughter, Tagalog punchlines, frustrated sighs, rolling cheers and the warm buzz of belonging. For 120 members of the Abu Dhabi Filipino Bowling Club (ADFBC), this isn’t simply a weekend sports league. It is identity, routine and joy. It is where life in the UAE across generations has been rooted.
Founded in 1988, the ADFBC has lived through eras of the UAE. Before Abu Dhabi became what it is today. Before layers of new sporting infrastructure transformed the region. And through all that change, every Saturday, this club has come back to the lanes.
Sarah Ociones, who has lived in Abu Dhabi more than 40 years and represented the UAE on the Women’s National Bowling Team, knows this club better than almost anyone. For her, this is not just sport, it is community: “It’s like having a family outside your family. You’re connected to people you can open up with. It’s a place to just be together,” she says.
A space built beyond sport
Filipinos who have lived here long enough remember the old Tourist Club, where casual weekend bowling began with just a handful of teams. When Khalifa International Bowling Centre opened in 1998, ADFBC moved over the next year and the club has remained ever since. In a dynamic city where change is constant , this building has become one of the constants for those who built their lives here.
From four or five casual teams to a peak of 30, the club’s evolution mirrors the Filipino story in Abu Dhabi.
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“We saw the big years, before COVID, when the club was huge,” Sarah says. “After COVID, we slowly put one team together, whoever wanted to join. And then people from Dubai came too. Everyone came back.”Filipino bowling is not just UAE based. Filipino bowling communities across Gulf countries and around the world gather annually to compete from Dubai to Singapore to Japan. Next year, the Club and Khalifa International Bowling Center will host The GCC All-Filipino Tournament with more than 250 bowlers expected over the Eid break in May 2026.
The next generation
17 year old Miravelle “Trisha” Mananghaya, one of the club’s youngest competitors, started bowling at six. By nine, she was already subbing in adult divisions before eventually becoming a regular. Bowling is not separate from her childhood; it is part of it with her parents bowling and brother all bowling. Weekends at Zayed Sports City have shaped her sport identity and her roots in the UAE.
“It’s kind of like my second family,” she says. “I value everyone because after knowing them for so long, they’re like my second family.”
She bowls competitively, but ‘casually’ and laughs that bowling has made her stronger for volleyball and badminton. As she recalls, her most memorable moment in the Club wasn’t about prestige; it was about who she was with: “It was with my family. That’s what I remember.”
From community league to UAE National Team
Sarah arrived in Abu Dhabi as a young university graduate, eventually meeting her husband and starting a family. She started bowling casually after a friend from the UK invited her and her children to bowl during Eid, more than two decades ago. Her entire family got hooked, except for one daughter who refused to bowl because she didn’t want to “ruin her nails” Sarah jokes.
Through this community, she went on to represent the UAE on the National Team at a time when very few women were present in the sport. She travelled throughout the Gulf, competed internationally, won medals and learned advanced technical mastery working with international coaches brought in to develop national talent.
“Wherever your passion is, you just go for it,” she says.
Today, she competes with The Mickey’s, whose uniforms carry a Mickey Mouse inspired design.
The president shaping the next era
Current Club President, Jojo Mercado, works as an inventory controller with a telecom provider. His role at ADFBC is simple and meaningful: protect the joy and keep the community thriving.
“People come to Zayed Sports City every week, this is kind of an outlet for everyone,” he says. “Meeting them every Saturday is really, really awesome for me. Their happy faces, their smiles. At the end of the day, we all go home happy.”
The club is non-profit, sustained by membership fees and sometimes, sponsorships. Members who travel for international tournaments often receive support from the Club. Importantly, as Jojo relays, the club is open to everyone. Filipinos, Emiratis, Americans, Singaporeans, anyone curious about picking up a ball and joining a league.
“That’s why people from other places come to join us,” Sarah says. “We enjoy bowling, we do it for fun, no pressure.
The quiet power of community sport in the UAE
In a country increasingly shaped by mega sporting events, world tours and high performance sports, this club represents something quieter and deeply important to the sporting culture of the UAE, a vibrant and continuous sports community that fosters belonging.
“This is where we relax after long days of work,” Sarah says. “This is where we are together.”
