SPORTS MINISTRY UNVEILS SUMMER PROGRAMMES FOR 2018
The Ministry of Sports Affairs announced, at a press meet held at the ministry’s headquarters, that the summer programmes for the 2018 season will begin in the first week of June and conclude by the last week of August
There will be a total of five summer programmes that will be aimed at galvanising and encouraging the youth to pursue sporting and cultural activities at a macro and micro level.
The five programmes are Club Youth Camps programme, Shababi programme, Summer Sports programme, Inshaad competition and the Cheer Your Team programme.
The Club Youth Camps programme, which will be headed by Bader al Rawahi, was first started in the year 2013.
Al Rawahi said the programme is aimed at empowering and equipping the youth to work as a team and help them harness their skillsets.
“Our target is to enable the young people to develop team building skills and foster a sense of camaraderie and oneness, being part of a group. We will have a total of four youth camps this season in Muscat, Suhar, Sur and Nizwa. The best performing youngsters in these four camps will gather for the final camp in Salalah. The participants will have to be aged between 18 and 25,’’ he explained.
The Shababi programme, which is in its fourth edition, is intended to instil and bring about an interest in the youth in the field of art, culture, social, scientific, environmental and the traditional aspects of Oman’s customs.
It is meant to inculcate a sense of growth and development in the minds of the youth. The programme will be held in various youth complexes across the Sultanate.
The programme will target people of all strata and gender, women and children included. The programme will be headed by Saeed al Rahbi.
Meanwhile, the Summer Sports programme, which is the oldest among all the programmes, is based on the theme of ‘Sport for All’. The programme will propagate and encourage the people to maintain a healthy lifestyle using the platform of sports.
There will be special days earmarked in various parks and beaches across the Sultanate for organising different kinds of sports. This programme will be overseen by Jaber al Shabibi.
The ‘Cheer Your Team’ programme will specifically focus on football and volleyball. The teams that are affiliated to various clubs will participate in the programme. The participation will be on three levels, that is the club level firstly, then the teams that will qualify from the club level will represent at the governorate level. The programme will be looked after by Omar Ateeq.
Finally, the best teams from each governorate will compete at the Sultanate’s level or national level.
In the ‘Inshaad’ competition, the participants will be tested for their singing of Islamic songs. The idea will be to unearth talented young singers in the age group of 8-30 years. The Inshaad programme will be led by Saif al Shibli.
A judging panel from outside will scrutinise the budding singers.
The competition will be held on four levels of clubs, governorate, group and Sultanate.
The Ministry of Sports Affairs has also launched for the first time a platform for interested participants to contact and register for the programmes.
They can call between 9 am and 7 pm and there will also be a team for registration at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.