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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. | The ASPIRE Academy for Sports Excellence is a specialized educational facility based in Doha, the capital of the Gulf State of Qatar, that provides an exceptional and comprehensive learning environment for children from 12-years-old and upwards with sporting potential.
Unique in its scope and able to boast some of the best training and sport science facilities to be found anywhere in the world, ASPIRE aims to identify and nurture sporting potential as well as lead the way in fostering a strong sports culture in Qatar and promoting the benefits of an active and healthy lifestyle to all communities and abilities.
Beginnings
ASPIRE opened its doors to students for the first time in September 2004 after the first round of talent identification (see below) had been concluded. The distinctive ASPIRE Dome was designed by award wining French architect, Roger Tallibert, who also designed the Olympic Stadium for the Montreal Olympics and the Parc des Princes in Paris, and was completed in November 2005. Opened to great fanfare with a raft of international sporting greats – including Diego Maradona, Pele, Hicham El Guerrouj, Ed Moses, Mark Spitz, Nadia Comaneci and Said Aouita, ASPIRE is a landmark sporting institute. The construction of the breathtaking facilities, on ground that was previously desert, took a mere 22 months to complete. Roger Taillibert is a French architect, notable for designing the Parc des Princes in Paris and the Stade Olympique in Montreal, Canada. ...
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, were held in 1976 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ...
The Parc des Princes (translation: Princes Park) is a 48527 capacity stadium in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. ...
This article is about the capital of France. ...
Diego Armando Maradona (born October 30, 1960) is an Argentine former footballer. ...
The term Pele can refer to: The Brazilian footballer, Edson Arantes do Nascimento: see Pelé The Ghanian footballer Abédi Pelé The Portuguese footballer Pedro Pele A goddess in Polynesian mythology: see Pele (mythology) The Portuguese word for skin An asteroid, number 2202. ...
Hicham El Guerrouj (Arabic: هشام الكروج, born September 14, 1974, Berkane) is a retired Moroccan middle distance runner. ...
At World Championship 1987 Edwin Corley Moses (born in Dayton, Ohio August 31, 1955) is an American track and field athlete who won gold medals in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1976 and 1984 Summer Olympics. ...
Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950, in Modesto, California) is a American swimmer. ...
Nadia Elena Comaneci (originally Comăneci ) (born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian gymnast, winner of five Olympic gold medals, and the first to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. ...
At World Championship 1987 Saïd Aouita (Arabic: سعيد عويطة) (born November 2, 1959) is a former Moroccan athlete, winner of 5000 meters at the 1984 Summer Olympics. ...
For the act of abandoning or withdrawing support from an entity, see desertion. ...
Mission and vision The ASPIRE Academy was established with the dual aims of identifying and developing elite local sporting talent and nurturing the sporting culture of Qatar and the surrounding region.
The creation of a unique learning environment attends to the sporting, academic and social educational needs of those student athletes identified as having the greatest potential of forging future careers at the highest level of international competition. This unusually longsighted vision in a region characterised, often unfairly, as one in which the quick fix solution is favoured, will take a number of years to be fully realized. It has though, already established a pattern of training and growth that is intended to act into perpetuity and ensure a conveyor belt of talent long into the future.
Running parallel to this high performance program are a number of community based initiatives that seek to promote the value of sports participation and healthy lifestyles. Children as young as 1-year-old, accompanied by their mothers, are catered for as well as school age and adult classes that place the Academy at the forefront of sports development in a country that already plays host to numerous regular international and world championship level sporting events.
Organisation The Academy has at its core two primary departments: That responsible for Sports and the Quality Education and Social Affairs (QESA) Department, that attends to the academic and developmental needs of its students. Working in tandem the combined effect of the collaboration is to produce the whole athlete, fully prepared for which ever area of sports they ultimately follow a career in.
These core functions are supported by IT, HR, Finance and Administration and Communication teams, forming an international staff that at May 1 2007 numbered 220 and includes representatives of 43 different countries.
Selection process In a country the size of Qatar it is imperative that no talent is allowed to go undeveloped and the Academy’s innovative three-stage Talent Identification Program, which tests all boys and girls in grades six and seven in the country’s school system, strives to discover those youngsters with the greatest potential to grow into elite athletes.
Relationships with clubs and federations also alert the Academy to talent. ASPIRE also nurtures children as young as six in external talent centres.
In addition a few places are offered to international scholarship students from developing countries. ASPIRE currently has youngsters from Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal benefiting from a sporting and academic education they might otherwise have been denied in their own countries. Further scholarships are set to be offered in the coming year through the Academy’s ambitious ASPIRE Africa program (see below).
Programs In addition to the core training and schooling of elite athletes, and specially designed programs to augment traditional coaching – such as career management and a champions’ education program – the Academy continues to pioneer wider initiatives. - ASPIRE Active: A community based program within the Academy that brings fitness training to all strata of the population; from mothers and toddlers through to adults, meaning ASPIRE offers its expertise and leadership in health and sports issues for all.
- Talent centres: Though full-time students are admitted to the Academy from age 12-years-old external and internal talent centres are run by the Academy to act as feeders to the main Academy. Skills are taught to children as young as 6-years-old.
- ASPIRE Africa Football Dreams: A bold initiative that will test over 500,000 boys in seven African countries – the largest sporting talent search in history – was announced in April 2007. In association with the United Nations and local agencies, eventually 50 students will be invited to the Academy for final assessment with around three being offered full-time places. The remainder will also continue to be monitored and assisted by the Academy.
The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ...
Facilities The institute boasts the largest purpose-built multi-sport arena in the world, the ASPIRE Dome, officially inaugurated in November 2005 at a three-day ceremony attended by such sporting luminaries as Pele, Diego Maradona, Ed Moses, Nadia Comaneci, Hicham El Guerrouj – who has subsequently become an official ambassador to the Academy - Said Aouita and Mark Spitz. With four multi-purpose arenas, a 200 meter athletics track, a full-size football pitch, squash courts, swimming and dive pools, combat arena and a gymnastics hall under one roof and with seating for 16,000 spectators in total, the Academy is able to utilise climate controlled practise and competition facilities 365 days a year – an important feature when summer temperatures in Qatar can reach 50 degrees Celsius.
The Dome recently hosted seven sports – gymnastics, badminton, kabadi, wushu, wrestling, boxing and track cycling (a temporary velodrome was constructed for the event on the indoor football pitch) – during the 15th Asian Games held in Doha. Table Tennis, Fencing and other international events are also held within the Dome. The 15th Asian Games, officially known as the XV Asiad, is Asias Olympic-style sporting event that was held in Doha, Qatar from December 1 to December 15, 2006. ...
In total, the entire campus covers an area of 290,000 meters, encompassing the Dome, a further seven outdoor football pitches, fitness court, running track, school faculty, dormitories to house up to 250 students, fitness room, science and research labs and a medical centre. Plans are already under way to construct a second dormitory with a view to an expansion of student numbers over the coming years.
Friends & partners ASPIRE seeks to form relationships and partnerships with other organisations working in the field of youth sports development and pedagogy. Through these active relationships around the globe ASPIRE seeks to share technologies and skills and maintain a position at the forefront of new developments within the field. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) headquarters is sited in Canberra, the Capital city of Australia. ...
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball is a German football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ...
The Singapore Sports School (Chinese: æ–°åŠ å¡ä½“育å¦æ ¡) is a specialized independent school in Singapore. ...
External links - Official website
- Qatar National Olympic Committee
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