Generation Amazing teamed up with partner club KAS Eupen to host a football for development session for local schoolchildren during the team’s winter training camp in Doha.
The session was attended by 40 children aged 8-12 and was delivered by Generation Amazing master coach Hamad Mohamed. The Eupen players encouraged the children to take part in the training, which was held at Aspire Academy and centred on the importance of teamwork. This initiative with Eupen marks one of several organised since Generation Amazing signed a value-in-kind partnership with the Belgian side in September 2019.
Moza Al Mohannadi, Generation Amazing’s Marketing & Communications Director, said: “This marks a fantastic opportunity to impact the children’s participation and journey towards adapting to the life skills taught in the Generation Amazing programme. It was important to us that Eupen can be a part of this session – we invest in their presence here and offer the players a chance to contribute to the development of our young beneficiaries.”
Eupen’s Manager, Beñat San José, said: “The players enjoyed the experience a lot. The organisation, the coaches and the programme focus were very good. The most important thing is to see the children smile and enjoy themselves. It was a pleasure for us to be a part of this initiative and we thank everyone here who has made this happen.”
Coach Hamad was also enthused by the session. He commented: “Through our partnership, Generation Amazing and Eupen are now working together as one team. This was a great opportunity to teach children about teamwork, a critical social and life skill for their age group.”
Local Generation Amazing youth ambassadors were also involved in planning the session alongside Coach Hamad. One of them, 19-year-old Salman Al Khori, said: “In the first round we explained what the exercise was and observed how the kids participated, whether they wanted to simply win or work collaboratively as a team. In the second round we emphasised, along with the Eupen players, the importance of working together and witnessed more of a united team effort.” Participant Rayan Mohamed Adel Moutalga, a 12-year-old from Ahmed Mansour Primary School, said: “I really enjoyed today’s football training. I learned that it’s important to work as a team and that when I fall, I should always get back up.”
Newton International School Lagoon pupil, 10-year-old Emelia Fisikova, said: “I played football, learned about teamwork and I really liked it. We worked with professional football players who helped us work together and include everybody in the training.”
Generation Amazing is the human and social legacy programme initiated during Qatar’s successful bid for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in 2010, which uses the power of sport to positively impact lives and create sustainable social development in communities.
More than 500,000 beneficiaries have been reached to date through Generation Amazing across the Middle East and Asia.