Aspire Dome

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Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence
Full name	ASPIRE Academy for Sports Excellence
Location	Doha, Qatar
Coordinates	25°16′0″N 51°26′37″E / 25.266667°N 51.44361°E / 25.266667; 51.44361Coordinates: 25°16′0″N 51°26′37″E / 25.266667°N 51.44361°E / 25.266667; 51.44361
Opened	2005
Capacity	15,000 (6,000) (Hall 1) (4,100) (Hall 2)
Tenants
Asian Games (Asian Olympics) (2006) World Indoor Championships (Indoor Athletics) (2010)

Since established in 2004, Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence's main objective to strengthen the sporting culture in Qatar, as well as internationally, as seen with their "Aspire Football Dreams" project. Over the years, it has received international acclaim and recognition^[1][2][3], and has produced many notable talents in different sports^[4].

Besides coaching in sports, Aspire Academy also focuses on various aspects, such as Sports science and leadership skills.

History

The Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence was established by an Emiri Decree, No. 16 of 2004, as an independent government-funded agency that reported directly to HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani through HH the Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani.

Later, an Emiri Decree – No.1 of 2008 – incorporated the Aspire Academy as a strategic business unit (SBU) into the new, parent organization of Aspire Zone Foundation. Despite the switch from an independent government body to an SBU, the original purpose and objectives of the Aspire Academy remain the same.

On 17 November, 2005, HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani led a glittering opening ceremony of the Aspire Dome, essentially signaling the global announcement of Aspire Academy as an international institute of high standing.

Talent identification & enrollment

Aspire's Talent Identification (TID) Program is a nationwide initiative to propel the state of Qatar into the international sporting arena. Working in close coordination with the Qatar National Olympic Committee, and the Supreme Education Council (SEC), its primary aim is to find students within schools in Qatar who have exceptional athletic talent and offer them a student-athlete scholarship within Aspire.

Aspire Football Dreams

Aspire Football Dream is a unique and fascinating humanitarian football project currently existent in 15 developing countries on three continents, and aimed at identifying the future talents of world football. Prepared and planned in 2005/2006 and launched on the ground in 2007, the ASPIRE Football Dreams project has already tested over two million young footballers from Asia, Latin America and Africa, as part of the largest-ever talent search within the sport. The project relies on a team of professional coaches and scouts, as well as thousands of volunteers.^[5] It was established in 2005.

The team has participated in international events, such as the 2011 VFF Cup, where they competed against national teams, and placed runners-up.^[6]

Aspire cooperates with the national football associations of the youngsters involved.

Senegal Academy

Established in 2008-2009, the top players from 10 countries in Africa travel to Qatar and are hosted at ASPIRE Academy, where they receive top-level training from Academy coaches and play games each week against other teams. World famous football stars visit and share advice and experience, and many of the young aspirants receive scholarships to Aspire Academy or the only ASPIRE branch in Senegal, as the involved National Football Associations were asking for more support for the screened and identified talents.^[7][8]

Similar to Aspire Football Dreams, the Aspire Senegal has participated in national events. One of the notable events they won was the 2011 Milk Cup, in which they thrashed a Manchester United youth team 5-1.^[9][10] They have also won the Ciocaria Cup in Italy.^[11]

Notable graduates

Below is only a few of the student-athletes who made history while being mentored by Aspires coaches.

• Nasser Al-Hamad – Gymnastics
• Mahmoud Al-Saadi – Gymnastics
• Ibrahim Majid – Full Senior International for Qatar (Football)
• Nasser Nabeel – Full Senior International for Qatar (Football)
• Saad Al Sheeb – Full Senior International for Qatar (Football)
• Fahad Khalfan – Full Senior International for Qatar (Football)
• Abdulkarim Hassan – Full Senior International for Qatar (Football)
• John Benson - U-20 International for Ghana, won the FIFA U-20 World Cup
• Mutaz Essa Barshim – Gold Medalist, 2010 IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships (High Jump). 2010 World Junior. Gold Medalist, 2010 Asian Junior Athletics Championships (High Jump)
• Mohamed Al-Mannai – Silver Medalist, 6th IAAF World Youth Championships (Octathlon). Gold Medalist, 2010 Asian Junior Athletics Championships (Decathlon)
• Waleed Al-Sharshani – Silver Medalist, 2006 Asian Games Doha (Sailing)
• More than 30 Aspire Football Dreams scholarship players represented already 10 different Home National Teams at international/continental/global competitions with John Felaga from Nigeria being runner up at the FIFA U17 World Cup in 2009.

Philosophy

Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence has a vested interest in disseminating education of world-class quality. As an organization deeply involved in the process of social advancement of entire communities, it offers education that not only equips its students with the skills and substantive knowledge to define and pursue their own goals, but also fulfills their social obligation as full-fledged citizens and complete sportspersons.^[12]

Curriculum

Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence has adopted a comprehensive concept of curriculum that does not relies solely on books and courses but also on a set of principles and standards of realism.

Its courses and subjects feature studies of:

• Arabic
• Islamic Studies
• English
• Mathematics
• Science: Biology, Chemistry, Physics
• Social Studies: History, Geography, Civics

Boarding school

Overnight boarding at the Aspire Academy Dormitory provides an opportunity for student-athletes the time for adequate recovery and rest from rigorous training as well as additional learning opportunities and team building.

Career & university networking

The career and university networking Section’s objective is to work in assisting the student-athletes by identifying their potential career opportunities. In addition, it supports each student in order to qualify for joining a university, while promoting continuous sports development. Moreover, the Career and University Networking Section serves as a resource for the greater Qatar sporting community in the area of advancing student-athletes’ career and higher education opportunities.

Aspire Active

ASPIRE Active is Aspire's life-changing community engagement initiative geared at enhancing the quality of lives of people it serves. ASPIRE Active fosters culturally sensitive lifelong recreational fitness activity and healthy lifestyle choices for the entire family to effectively address contemporary sedentary lifestyle consequences.

Guided by the Qatar National Vision 2030 that calls for development of a healthy and competitive human capital, ASPIRE Active focuses on preventative adult and teen fitness and health related exercise programming. The broad variety of scientifically-designed classes and courses on offer cater for beginner to advanced users. Detailed attention to instructor knowledge, customer care and best practice is the focus of ASPIRE Active.

ASPIRE Active's mission is also in line with that of the Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence, which calls “to ensure an active and healthy lifestyle for the society throughout Qatar by engaging the local community through a variety of classes and fitness opportunities”.

Facilities

Aspire Dome

Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence students utilize the Aspire Dome, which is credited as the world’s largest indoor multipurpose dome. The Aspire Dome offers facilities for a host of sporting events - both local and international. Notably, it hosted the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

There are also outdoor facilities. A total of seven outdoor football pitches are located onsite.

School

A complete range of architecturally-acclaimed educational facility is used to deliver sports-focused instruction and curricula to student-athletes.

Controversies

There have been several unfounded controversies regarding the academy. One such controversy is the allegation that Qatar bought votes to host the 2022 World Cup with the academy, with critics stating that Aspire sent scouts to Thailand and Guatemala, countries with little footballing history, due to both countries having representation on the FIFA Executive Committee. In addition, Paraguay, one of the countries with a recently opened program, is home to CONMEBOL president Nicolas Leoz.^[13] However, the statements were denied by Qatar.^[14]

Most notably, there have been many allegations that Qatar plans to assimilate academy players into their 2022 World Cup squad.^[15] This is bolstered by Qatar's lenient policy on naturalization of athletes for sports.^[16][17] Despite this, Aspire claims it works in close co-operation with the national football association of the players involved.

References

External links

• Official Website