03 Jan 2017
A team of six coaches and seven athletes from Australia’s Bachar Houli Academy have completed a week-long training camp at Aspire Academy, where they were able to use the state-of-the-art facilities and receive training tips from some of the Academy’s leading experts. The team was welcomed to Aspire Academy by the Australian Ambassador to Qatar, HE Mr. Axel Wabenhorst, and Aspire Academy’s Director of Sports Science, Mr Tim Cable.
The Bachar Houli Academy is an Australian talent development programme that aims to produce sporting champions by developing the footballing talents of young Muslim athletes between the ages of 15-18, who wish to be drafted into Australia’s major league. The Academy was founded by Bachar Houli, a Richmond midfielder playing in the Australian Football League (AFL), and one of the first Muslims to play at the AFL.
This platform is an extension of the Bachar Houli Cup, a national competition for Islamic schools in Australia which aims to scout the best Muslim footballing talents in Australia to be enrolled at the Academy.
Praising Aspire Academy’s training camp, Founder Bachar Houli said: “Aspire Academy provides an incredibly inspirational and supportive environment which massively helps young athletes to develop and achieve their full potential. It offers great facilities and programmes which aren’t available anywhere else in the world and I’m thankful to the Academy for allowing us to train in such a high-performance setting and use some of the world’s most technologically advanced facilities.”
Speaking about this partnership, Mr Tim Cable, Aspire Academy’s Director of Sports Science, added: “It has been a pleasure welcoming Bachar and his team to our Academy and we hope this collaboration continues for years to come. The Bachar Houli Academy also offers some fantastic programmes and we will be encouraging our student-athletes to enter similar training camps in Australia.”
Established in 2004, Aspire Academy has two primary aims. First, to identify and transform talented young athletes with real potential into world-renowned champions who represent Qatar in national teams across a wide range of sports. Its second primary aim is to promote a sports culture in Qatar and the region.