Aspire Academy recently received hundreds of football youngsters from international schools, who swarmed to the Aspire Dome to take part in the closing day of the 2018 annual School Festival Tournament (SFT).
The tournament was designed to provide a platform for talented youngsters to showcase their skills whilst supporting their athletic development and sporting potential. It comprises an important part of the Academy’s mission to produce leading local athletes.
The final day was organised by Aspire Academy’s Football Skill Development Centre (FSDC) and featured Grade I and II students, who competed in matches held simultaneously from 9am to 12pm.
The list of participating international schools included English Modern School (Al Wakrah), Pearling Season International School of Doha, ACS Doha, Qatar International School, Swiss International School of Qatar, Nord Anglia School Al Khor, Newton International School Barwa, and Park House English School.
Commenting on the tournament, Nasser al-Ahbabi, Head of FSDC Administration, said, “This festival reflects the efforts made by the Football Skill Development Centre to identify and develop young players all-year round and highlights the success of our ongoing partnership with local schools to support young emerging talent. We made more than 45 visits to the schools across Qatar this year, and we attracted more than 375 young players to join our ‘Multi Skill Development’ programme that provides them with the opportunity to learn and develop fundamental skills which will help them to improve their sporting performance and set them on the pathway to sporting success.”
The festival was attended by a number of senior officials from Aspire Academy, including Badr al-Hay, Director of Education and Student Care; Ali Sultan Fakhroo, Director of Corporate Services; Edorta Murua, Technical Director of Football Department; Jassem al-Jaber, Academy’s School Principal; Saeed al-Marri, Football Administration Manager; as well as a number of coaches from the Academy, who refereed the matches and oversaw the students’ participation. At the end of the festival, Aspire Academy’s officials awarded the winning teams with medals and handed over trophies to ACS Doha and the Parkhouse English School for clinching the first place at both categories, Grade I and II respectively.
Aspire Academy’s football programme is widely recognised as one of the strongest in the world in terms of identifying, evaluating and nurturing talent, as well as training players and giving them scope and opportunities to compete.
The Academy’s training philosophy is tailored to the capabilities, talents and goals of Qatar as a footballing nation and it follows a strategy that is geared towards the development of individual players.
The Academy’s Scouting Department combines a team of international scouts with football analysts, who are together responsible for scouting talent locally, regionally and internationally. The team also identifies and monitors players in clubs throughout Qatar, enabling experts from Aspire Academy to monitor players throughout the football season.
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