Aspire Academy
A select group of student-athletes and graduates from Aspire Academy, other sports than football, are back in training in the academy premises since mid- June.
The training has resumed following the state gradual lifting the lockdown dictated in mid-March 2020 by the spread of COVID-19 Virus, under strict adherence to health and safety procedures and precautions approved and developed by the Aspire Crisis Management Team following measures in alignment with national directives and reference to the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and World Health Organisation (WHO) safety guidelines.
Coaches and athletes are only getting access to the premises and facilities after showing green code on their “Ehteraz app” on their mobile phones as well as passing the temperature test.
Aspire Academy is taking many precautions in order to ensure the safety of students and coaches. Sport codes currently practiced in this phase of return to training include Athletics (sprints, endurance, and throws), squash, table -tennis, and fencing. Hygiene protocols and specific considerations have been made for training sessions involving small groups of not more than five (5) athletes per session. In squash only one student per court and with own racquet is currently allowed.
Every student has its own equipment, implements, or gear and there is no sharing at all. In table-tennis, each player has a designated basket of balls and collects their own from the floor and the same applies to throws. The tables for table tennis are placed three meters apart as are treadmills in endurance training.
For sprints, the athletes are keeping a minimum of one lane between each runner. Each student-athlete has a resting chair separated from the next one by stipulated social distancing regulations and everyone brings their own water bottle.
All venues and floors as well as equipment are cleaned, disinfected and sanitized after each training and so far, all parties involved have been well pleased with the arrangements.
Aspire Academy TableTennis coach, Jakov Krivic, and three young student-athletes, Ali Hamza, Yousef Magdy and Khalid Al Yafei were going through their paces in a morning session making the most of being back training at Aspire.
Massimo Omeri, Aspire Academy Fencing head coach was appreciative of the opportunity to resume training, “It has been a difficult period for everyone and to be able to come back together and work with the fencers is definitely positive for everyone. We are not engaged in any “assaults”, a form of a contest between fencers with blades as yet, but are getting fencers to practice their hits on the coach as he instructs and helps. It is different but offers a good opportunity to work on drills and things we otherwise would not have had more time for in a normal period.”
Meanwhile, two of the top graduates in their respective sports, Ali Turki of fencing and Abdullah Al Tamimi of squash were equally thrilled to resume training at Aspire. Turki said he initially struggled with staying at home but as time wore on, he was able to find some positives from this period. For Al Tamimi, World No 32 ranked player, it’s a worthy home-coming, resuming training.
“It’s an amazing feeling to return after I have been three months away from home. When I am in Doha, I spend six to seven hours at Aspire on a daily basis. Being away for three months is like being far away from my family and I just came back. It is an amazing feeling of course. The first day of training again has been like a dream come true. I used to train every day at home, but it is a different feeling to come to your second home Aspire and practice on the squash courts," Al Tamimi said.