Dubai talent hunt turns up 291 young stars
DSC handpicks children from school sports competition and helps them find clubs
Dubai: The Dubai Sports Council (DSC) has identified 291 children aged nine years and under to join various clubs in Dubai so as to further the development of their talent.
The selected children came through a competitive programme in the fourth Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Schools Competition that concluded last week.
Mattar Al Tayer, vice-chairman of the DSC, presented cash awards totalling Dh430,000 to the winners of eight different competitions that were held as part of the championship, which started last November.
Al Tayer was joined by Dr Ahmad Sa’ad Al Sharif, general secretary of the DSC, and Brigadier General Dr Ahmad Eid Al Mansouri, director of the Dubai Educational District, at the presentation.
This year’s competition saw almost 10,000 students competing in eight sporting disciplines — football, basketball, volleyball, handball, table tennis, swimming, road race and badminton.
A total of 8,955 boys and 730 girls from 58 schools across Dubai participated in the competitions, which were held across the emirate.
The idea behind having the competition is to tap into sporting talent at the school level and provide clubs in Dubai with a ready-made platform to fuel their development structure and programmes.
Each child is given an identity card, including details of their parents and contact numbers, at the beginning of the season. “This is a sure way that clubs can get directly in touch with the parents if they find they want a certain child to join them,” said Dr Al Sharif.
