Major General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, president of the Qatar and Asian athletics federations and vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, along with the Regional Development Centre in Egypt, congratulated the trainees at a speech he gave at the graduation ceremony, praising their efforts. He also paid tribute to the lecturers’ work in equipping the new coaches with the basic knowledge and skills of coaching science, saying: “This course is among the most important and finest qualification courses approved by the international federation, and your federation has been keen to provide it for you as a distinguished generation, bringing together trainees and coaches who are sons of the sport, which is important for developing the sport and raising it to the best level. The purpose of holding these study courses is to keep pace with the new changes in the sport’s rules and modern coaching methods under the supervision of the international federation, which genuinely helps increase excitement and raise athletes’ technical level, and adds points of distinction and numerical refinement for the champions. Your federation also aims to encourage retired stars, and the diligent and persevering, to join the coaching profession in the future, believing that the vanguard, or constellation of stars, who brought honour to Qatari athletics and brought tears of joy or sorrow as players, can carry Qatari athletics to broad new horizons in coaching, given their experience, talent and remarkable abilities to discover talent and hone it through coaching. We hope you will truly be a lucky charm for the Qatar Athletics Federation.”
The first step
He added: “It is well known that when the sons of a sport take charge of a federation’s affairs, they achieve the required success, and no sports federation can rise in its work unless the sport’s own people take the helm. In all honesty, we have been honoured by you before and we are honoured by you now and in the future, God willing. You are the ones who will carry the banner of coaching, with God’s help and guidance, in the challenges ahead, especially the 2019 World Championships, which we are honoured to host. As you know, great technical responsibility will fall on you as new coaches, and you must take on that technical responsibility in the best way, especially since this is the first step on the coaching ladder, considered the first rung on the ladder of success, and we hope you will rise through it to the best, all the way to the fifth rung.”
Having coaches who are sons of the sport means the Qatar federation is on the right path and following the correct approach. He took the opportunity to extend his thanks and appreciation to the lecturers from the Regional Development Centre affiliated with the international athletics federation for this distinguished course – the two brothers, international expert Dr Mohammed Abdel Raouf Diab, the course director, and assistant lecturer Wael Mohammed Ramadan
