DOHA: The Aspire Academy, opened ten years ago here, has been playing a key role in producing top quality players in many sports disciplines, particularly in football.
With the 2022 FIFA World round the corner, the gigantic academy, located in the most scenic part of Doha, has started working on an ambitious plan to produce quality athletes, particularly in football so that the best talent could be inducted in the Qatar football team ahead of the mega event which Qatar hosts in November-December that year.
With lush green grounds, the international Aquatic Centre and various other sports facilities, the academy is being run by highly skilled staff and has coaches from the most developed nations of the world.
During a visit to this academy on Tuesday, it was noted that Qatar is focused on carving a niche in the galaxy of the most developed sporting nations of the world.
‘The News’ had a detailed talk on Tuesday at the academy with Trevor Smith, head of Multi-Sport Skill Development programme of the academy.
Trevor, who hails from England, is satisfied with what has been achieved so far. “Aspire Academy is the national centre of excellence for six sports, squash, fencing, table tennis, shooting, athletics and football. Football is the biggest,” Smith told this correspondent.
“It runs a full-time school for boys aged between 11 and 18, who are selected from across the country according to their talent and ability in sports. They come to Aspire as full-time students-athletes. They receive coaching, physiotherapy and psychological support. Those boys who come to the school between the age of 11 and 18 could go on to be part of national teams and compete at the highest level,” he said.
“Besides, we also have a multi-sport skill development programme to identify those boys who are in primary schools from age 8-11 to develop them so they are able to be offered the scholarship in the academy,” he said.
“We work in all primary schools throughout the country to find the best talent and bring them to the academy,” Smith said.
“We also have a multi-skill programme for girls which works on the same lines but without school. The primary school girls are imparted training by the best coaches and then they will be passed on to the national federations’ championships so that they could showcase their skills there and earn medals and then go on to compete at the international level,” he said.
He said football is the strongest element of the academy. “The best effort is being made to create a strong line for the 2022 FIFA World Cup,” he said.
He said Qatar was a small country but it was focusing on sports. “We are closely working with the Qatar
Football Association to create a new generation of the best athletes,” Smith remarked.
“In football the Aspire Academy has a handy contribution as most of the age-group teams of the academy are in the national teams of Qatar, including under-12, under-13, under-14, under-15 and so on,” he said.
“We are making efforts in collaboration with Qatar Football Association and coaches to produce players who could represent Qatar in international arena,” he said.
To a question he said that Aspire Academy also had a charitable arm, which was particularly working in Africa so that the unprivileged youngsters could be benefitted who could then use football as a tool to earn bread for themselves and their families.
About the naturalisation of foreign players in the Aspire Academy, he said that those who qualify as per rules of naturalisation could be inducted in Qatar’s team. “But it is the job of the relevant football federation and the national Olympic committee as those foreign players who are residents of Qatar could earn the right to play for Qatar. Proper qualification rules would be followed and already established parameters will be abided by Qatar while naturalising any player,” he said.
He said that in the academy 80 percent of the children were Qataris. The rest are from other Asian countries, African countries and Australia.
He said that the Academy had around 400 employees who have come from 87 countries from across the globe.
“We have in football coaches from Spain, England, Germany, Portugal and Europe. In athletics we have also coaches from Tunisia, England and Australia,” he said.
He said that there were now 300 student-athletes enrolled in the academy. Half of them are footballers, Smith said.
About the achievements of the Academy, he said that Qatar recently narrowly missed an Olympic berth after ending fourth in the Asian qualifiers of football for Rio Games. “I think ending fourth is a huge achievement for Qatar football,” he said.
“The previous year Qatar won the AFC Under-19 Championships and qualified for the Under-20 World Cup. I think Qatar has fine prospects in football,” he said.
“Six of our athletes will feature in Rio Olympics. We have produced high jump world champion while two or three other athletes have world-class ratings. Squash player Abdullah Tamimi, who was groomed in this academy, has been beating top players from Europe. Now he has turned professional,” he said.
The Aspire Academy has 15 grounds, ten grassy outside, one indoor with an artificial turf and four other multipurpose.
Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium is also located in the Aspire Zone. The stadium is being expanded for the 2022 World Cup, which will be the first to be hosted by any Arab nation.
The academy, opened after the 2006 Doha Asian Games, is fully government-funded.
“In athletics too we are working on solid lines as World Athletics
Championships will be held in 2019 in Qatar and we hope that some of our graduates will be competing in that event,” Smith hoped.
“If successful, our athletes will be able to feature in the 2020, 2024 and 2028 Olympics. I am sure the things will go up with the passage of time,” Smith said.
In the academy different subjects are also being taught formally. The protocol manager Maria said that currently three languages, English, Arabic and Spanish, were being taught. “From next year, French will be added,” she said.