ASPIRE Students Return from Successful Summer Camps

Welcome back to Aspire’s student athletes who have just returned from successful stints at overseas summer training camps. In a break from tradition, the camps, which are usually held in Europe, took place in Singapore and Egypt due to concerns regarding the outbreak of swine flu. The Academy’s delegations comprising of over 100 student athletes from a variety of disciplines, left Doha at the beginning of June and headed over to Singapore and Egypt for four weeks at training camps specifically designed to improve their fitness and provide a much needed change of scene. Aspire’s athletics students flew to Singapore for their summer camp which made up part of their preparations for the Asian Youth Games 2009. Our athletes performed exceptionally well with some breaking their personal records and even qualifying for the World Youth Championship in Italy this month (8th-12th July). Be sure to watch out for Mohamed Al Manai, Muataz Barsham, and Muyad Ibrahim when the competition begins on the 8th July. Aspire’s athlete’s weren’t the only ones to feel the benefits of Singapore, our table tennis students also profited a great deal from the overseas experience, playing many games and demonstrating their skill and dedication during the three week trip. At the training camp in Cairo, Egypt, football students from different age categories excelled and performed superbly during their friendly matches against some well known Egyptian teams including Ismailia, Tersana, Mansoura and the Al Sharqia selected team. Egypt also proved an ideal location for Aspire’s squash students where their sport is held in high regard with Egypt being considered by some as one of the best worldwide countries in this popular Anglo-Saxon sport. Given the overall results across the board, the head delegation and coaches accompanying the students on the tours agreed that the initiative is definitely a welcome and beneficial addition to the student’s training calendar.