The Aspire Multi-Sport Skills Development Centre (MSSD) has now been running at GES for two years. This is part of the GES Gifted and Talented programme that is provided in partnership with Aspire Academy. The objective of MSSD is to identify boys who show the potential to become world class athletes in a range of sports. Boys who meet certain criteria may ultimately be offered a full-time scholarship to attend Aspire Academy. This is after attending regular MSSD training sessions and successfully passing through Bronze Testing, then both Silver and Gold Camps.
Aspire tests thousands of boys across Qatar and selects only around 300 into Silver camp. GES had seven boys make it to Silver Camp.
During Silver Camp, the boys are put through their paces; tested and measured and evaluated by Aspire Academy coaches, alongside coaches from the Qatar Athletics Federation. It is a busy and challenging day and can be quite daunting for boys who are new to the experience. Our boys performed well, and as ever, conducted themselves in exemplary fashion. At the end of the performance tests and measures, the boys had the opportunity to go down and work with the Academy squash coaches in fantastic facilities.
After Silver testing is concluded, the coaches meet together and evaluate the boys’ performance. From those who tested, only 60 are then invited to attend Gold Camp. We were extremely pleased to have had two boys make it to this stage. We also had some of the other boys invited back to attend further evaluations and assessments for squash on that day.
During Gold Camp, the boys attend Aspire for two days and go through even more physical and performance tests and their academic ability is assessed. They also meet with many coaches from all the different sporting disciplines, who consider the boys’ general suitability for a full time sports academy. Gold camp is also a chance for the boys to see the facilities… and sample the food at the Academy cafeteria (right).
Overall, the GES boys performed extremely well, it is already noteworthy that they were amongst the best boys in the country to be tested this year. We are very happy to announce that after these testing processes, Khalifa Al Sadiq, Rashid Al Khalifa, Thamer Al Thani and Sultan Al Muhannadi have been invited to share in a squash training programme at the Academy; Nasser Darwish has been invited to join Qatar Athletics Federation national programme and Jaber Al Kuwari has been offered a scholarship to attend Aspire Academy full-time.
