Doha: A large number of internationally-recognised coaching and sport science speakers will take part in a two-day Youth Athletics Coaching Congress — an event hosted by Aspire Academy and the Qatar Athletics Federation — which begins here today.
The event starts today with official welcome of all participants by Dahlan Al Hamad, President of the Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF), and Ivan Bravo, Director General of Aspire Academy, at 8:15am in the auditorium of Aspire Academy.
This meet is another attempt by Aspire Academy to gather international experts and provide a platform for them to share their knowhow with each other.
Athletics coaches from Qatar, especially, stand to gain much from the exercise Among the 270 registered participants, 56 are club coaches from Qatar and 20 are QAF coaches. Besides local participants, the coaches in the audience include delegates from all over the world, including from Australia, Slovakia and Singapore.
“We are all gathering at Aspire Academy in the spirit of cooperation to learn from one another about the subtle intricacies of developing youth athletes,” said Chris Earle, Director of Sport at Aspire Academy. “In partnership with the Qatar Athletics Federation, we are proud to host this conference that includes an outstanding panel of internationally respected coach educators from around the world.”
The presenters all work, or have worked extensively, with athletes from all ages and have produced many medals at international events and include names such as Paddy Upton, a World Champion cricket coach, who is going to give the keynote speech, John Godina, a four-time World Champion in shot-put and CEO of the World Athletics Centre and Kevin Tyler, the former Head of Coaching at UK Athletics.
“I’m very excited to come and present at the world-leading Aspire Academy in Doha. Coach education is an important step for all of us coaches. When you can learn a few things to incorporate within your own coaching practice, your athletes immediately benefit,” Tyler said.
Qatar middle-distance coach Jama Aden, coach of world-record holders as well as world and Olympic champions, is also going to be part of the congress. “I’d like to thank Aspire Academy for giving me the opportunity to share my coaching experiences at this conference,” said Aden, who will be speaking about the organisation of training for teenage distance runners as well as endurance technique. “I’m looking forward to spending time over the two days with my coaching colleagues and to discuss the newest methods of training athletes.”
The congress is also using some of their expertise to run parallel sessions designed for Aspetar and football audiences.
THE PENINSULA
