06 Feb 2022
The Aspire Academy’s Silver Camp 2022 of the National Talent Identification Programme was conducted at the indoor track of the Aspire Dome.
In a three-phase process (Bronze, Silver and Gold phase), Aspire conducts testing of approximately 3,000 Grade 6 students in schools (Bronze phase) and at Aspire (Silver and Gold phase) every year.
Young boys between 10-11 years, who got through the Bronze Camp, attended the first and second stages of the Silver Camp.
The third stage of the Silver Camp will be held tomorrow.
Kevin Wishart, Aspire Academy’s Multi Sport Skill Development Coach, conducted the scouting processes.
“It’s a normal protocol. These boys have been selected from bronze testing. They were split into three groups and were put through tests/activities in warm-up, 40m sprint, counter movement jump and medical ball throws,” said Wishart.
The primary goal of National Talent Identification is to scout male students with exceptional athletic talent within Qatar Government schools and offer them a student-athlete scholarship within Aspire Academy.
Some boys are nominated for the ‘Silver Camp’ by the respective Qatari sports federations.
The ‘Gold Camp’ will have a two-day mini-camp at the Aspire Academy, where the students will perform and train in a typical athletic environment. They will be assessed by coaches, sport scientists and teachers.
At the conclusion, the successful candidates with the most potential to excel gets nominated for full Aspire Academy scholarships.
Excerpts from the interview:
Can tell us about the gold, silver and bronze camps?
This is Aspire Academy comprehensive talent scouting system. We scout these boys from government and independent schools across the country. After they are assessed by the team from Aspire Academy Talent Identification department, they are invited to the ‘Bronze Camp’ before the numbers are significantly whittled down in the second stage known as Silver Camp Testing.
What’s the current status of the camp(s)?
We had invited 20 selected boys from the bronze testing to attend silver testing for our athletics programme last Wednesday. We do know these boys. They have been training with us since October. Due to the Covid protocols, we’ve divided the ‘Silver Camp’ into three days.
‘Silver’ is the second phase where we did some more tests. Based on the data and numbers, we’ll look at it with the coaches and then form the ‘Gold Camp’.
How many boys are you targeting?
We have actually selected over 80 boys. The ‘Gold Camp’ which will be held in February end. We expect between 20-30 boys to attend the camp.
What exactly are you looking at from National Talent Identification camps?
We are looking at the generic physical capacities of the boys in athletics. Ideally, we want to see how fast they can run in over 40m, how high they can jump or how far they can throw. The boys will then go with the specialist athletics coaches who’ll look at them with a little more details to see their movement and capacities. Throws, jumps and sprint coaches will then develop sports specific stations to demonstrate their skills and the coaches can observe their physical competencies.