15 Mar 2015
Doha, 15 March 2015. On March 16 and 17 Aspire Academy welcomes 70 Qatari boys to ‘Gold Camp’ which is the final stage of the elaborate talent identification process that each year involves over 3,000 boys of 11 years of age from all across Qatar.
“Being one of the final boys still being tested is already proof of sporting talent and the boys are now only a few steps away from the next stage – being offered a scholarship at Aspire Academy and having the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of former student-athletes such as high jumper and World Champion Mutaz Essa Barshim,” says Ivan Bravo, Director General of Aspire Academy.
Since our establishment in 2004, Aspire Academy follows its vision to find and develop future champions for Qatar. The Academy does this by working with all local schools and their teachers to assess the sporting potential of all boys from 8 years of age. The teachers use equipment that Aspire Academy provides to measure children’s body shape, their speed, their power and strength and their ability to run distance. From 8 years onwards the Academy examines these same measures each year to track boys’ progress. Those boys that perform well are invited to join Aspire’s Multi-sport Skill Development program (MSSD), which is an after-school coaching program to help train their sporting skills.
At age 11, boys are assessed again, this time by a team from Aspire Academy which visits every school and performs the same measurements, which is called ‘Bronze Testing’. Boys that perform well are invited into Aspire to go through ‘Silver Testing’ and the very best boys then come back for the ‘Gold Camp’ testing in March each year, where they work with Aspire Academy’s international coaches. After this visit, the top 40 boys with significant potential to excel in Sport are nominated for entry into Aspire Academy to train as an athlete and scholar for the next six years.
A great chance as Prof. Tim Cable, Director of Sports Science, confirms: “These nominations are very prestigious and reserved for the best 1% of the pupil population of Qatar. Those boys that graduate from the Academy at age 18 have been provided with the best opportunity to be future sports