A total of 60 new student-athletes have joined Aspire Academy at the start of the 2023-24 academic year which officially began on Sunday 3 September.
The new intake is set to train in seven different sports, with padel the latest sport adopted by the Academy with a total of six student-athletes joining various grades for the new year.
Grade 7 welcomes 35 newcomers, with 11 joining Grade 8, there are 4 additions to Grade 9 and a further 5 each in Grades 10 and 11.
As well as the six padel players there are 27 footballers, 5 referees, 14 in athletics, 3 squash players, 4 swimmers and one table tennis player.
The new academic year is the first since 2020 that will be free of all Covid-19 restrictions something that Aspire Academy’s school principal Jassem Al Jaber is looking forward to.
“Let me congratulate all of the students for the new coming year, welcome the newcomers and congratulate the parents,” the principal said as the student-athletes returned to school.
“We have had a period of several years when we haven’t been able to be at occupation or carry out all our activities due to Covid-19.
“Now with this academic year, we will be back to normal at school and have the two daily training sessions. We are looking forward to the student-athletes being fully active and full of all the energy that we feel here at the Academy.”
The principal added that now the school has been re-accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS) the staff will continue to meet those standards and improve on them.
“Working with students means you need to always be thinking about how you can develop them, how you can make them feel safe,” he explained.
“The aim is for them to progress in their sport and with their academics, that's why you need to work daily work with them.”
“Our accreditation (with CIS) comes with standards that we had to meet and those are standards you need to continue to deliver.”
“We must not only maintain expectations but also raise them as we strive to develop our student-athletes. students more.”
“There are always a lot of challenges, but also you will find lots of fun when you work with them as you find solutions to develop them and their skills.”
One of the student-athletes returning for his final year after a summer holiday packed with competitions and travelling is pole vaulter Seif Hemeida.
Hemeida’s holidays saw him win gold medals at the Asian Under-20 Athletics Championships, the Arab Athletics Championships and the Arab Games as well as competing at the Asian Champions.
The 18-year-old also raised his own Qatar record three times from 5.35m, which he set in February, to 5.40m to 5.50m and eventually to 5.51m.
Despite the busy schedule in recent weeks, he is confident that he will easily be able to get back into the routine of being back at school as he continues to balance his academic education with his athletics training.
“It's very easy to manage it (education and training) because Aspire Academy, do everything for you and they make your routine very easy to follow,” he explained.
“They help you to manage your day so we start the day in the school at 7am and then finish around 6.30pm, so we have very little time to think about anything else.”
Hemeida is aware of the importance of the academic side of his time at Aspire Academy.
“Aspire Academy has already taught me a lot of things, for example when I arrived my English was very bad and Aspire has helped me a lot in that area,” he explained.
“Maths is my favourite subject at school and I am thinking about studying business after I graduate from Aspire.”
In athletics Hemeida’s next big challenge will be competing for Qatar at the Asian Games in China, which begin on 23 September.
Aspire Academy honoured its class of 2023 at a graduation ceremony on Tuesday evening as the academic year drew to a close.
A record total of 54 student-athletes became the 16th set of graduates from Aspire Academy.
The ceremony took place at the iconic Aspire dome with His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, the Honorary President of the Qatar Football Association, as the guest of honour.
Other invitees included representatives from different sports federations as well as from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
Tariq Abdulaziz Al-Naama the Vice President -of the Aspire Zone Foundation, Dr. Abdulaziz Al Kuwari the CEO of Aspetar also attended along with other dignitaries, teachers, coaching staff as well as the parents and friends of the student-athletes.
After a recital from the Quran by graduate Younis Mohamed Bala the Academy’s Deputy Director General Ali Salem Afifa spoke on behalf of the Director General.
Mr. Afifa stressed the pivotal role that Aspire has played in the development of sport in Qatar since the Academy opened its doors.
"Since our opening in 2004, the Academy can boast many achievements and has provided a lot of talent and stars to national teams in the various sports that the Academy has in its program,” he said.
“We can achieve even more and enjoy further success in various sports with the possibility of adding other sports to those we currently offer."
“As important are those graduates who have distinguished themselves academically and educationally and have risen in various fields of work such as medicine, aviation, engineering and others.”
Aspire Academy Director of Education and Student Affairs, Badr Al-Hay thanked the guest of honour for his support over the years and hailed the sports federations for their part in developing the student-athletes.
He also highlighted the balance that the Academy achieves between academic and sporting development.
“Over the years we have developed a curriculum that works for our student-athletes, we have worked to understand and implement measures so they can thrive in the classroom and the sporting arena,” he explained.
“We also prepare them for life after the Academy and things like our Leadership Development Programme will help them deal with problems in all aspects of their lives and put them in a position to help others too.”
“While we wanted to be recognised as a world-class sports academy, we were also determined that the academic side of Aspire was also recognised and endorsed internationally.”
“Our recent re-accreditation by the Council for International Schools proves that we are fulfilling our goal.”
“Please never forget that you will always be welcome back at Aspire Academy, please keep in touch and let us share in your successes. We are also here if you need support in the future.”
Footballer Saeed Jabir Afifa spoke on behalf of the graduating student-athletes as he offered their gratitude to everyone involved in their time at Aspire Academy.
“We will always refer to the hard work done here at Aspire Academy that has inspired, guided and prepared us for the future,” he said.
“We are ready for the future. We must also remember that this is just the start and there is a lot of hard work ahead of us if we are to fulfil our dreams.”
“Aspire will always be our second home and we will keep in touch. We must also thank our nation for giving us this opportunity to represent them and we are grateful for all your support.:
This year the Academy is celebrating graduates across nine sports disciplines – football (23) football referees (2), athletics (18), table tennis (3), squash (2), fencing (1), swimming (2), shooting (2) and motorsport (1).
This year’s graduates brings the total of student-athletes to have graduated from Aspire Academy since it launched in 2004 to 594.
These graduates can now look forward to furthering their sporting and academic careers and follow in the footsteps of Aspire Academy’s list of illustrious alumni.
