Dubai: The UAE National Olympic Committee (UAE NOC) will commence a series of training sessions for its instructors of the UAE Schools Olympics Programme from Sunday.
With coronavirus affecting sporting activities all over the globe, the UAE NOC has decided to conduct the training courses via videoconference technology while covering seven individual sports. The activity will commence on August 9 and continue till August 20.
A handful of specialist courses have been laid out for instructors of the UAE School Olympics programme with teachers from judo, taekwondo, swimming, fencing, archery, athletics and badminton benefiting from the 12-day training programme.
About 200 teachers and instructors from the Ministry of Education have already confirmed their participation for the course, and this number is expected to increase over the next few days.
Launched in 2012, the annual UAE School Olympics is meant to scout future sporting talent among young students in an attempt to fuel the sporting future of a young nation like the UAE.
Held in close coordination with the UAE Ministry of Education and sports associations, competitions are first held at the zonal level before the best athletes in select Olympic sports advance to specially-constituted zonal training centres. These athletes then contest in a national-level championship organised directly under the UAE NOC umbrella by various UAE Educational Zones each year.
The newly-crowned champions are absorbed for further specialised training keeping an eye on regional and international competitions in the future with the sole aim of achieving national sporting goals for the UAE.
Starting off in 2013, the UAE School Olympics took off with competitions in athletics, gymnastics, swimming, fencing, shooting and archery. But over a period of eight years, the UAE School Olympics have grown into many more sporting disciplines.
