A webinar as part of Generation Amazing youth festival in progress.
Doha: Sport can connect people — bridging both communities and generations — and help to tackle global issues such as COVID-19, Qatar’s second annual Generation Amazing youth festival, has been told.
The three-day event is hosted virtually by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC), with Qatar Foundation (QF) as a strategic partner. Gathering together young people from Qatar, the region, and the world, and showcasing football’s capacity to unify, empower, and drive positive social change, it opened with a panel titled ‘Celebrating the Power of Sport to Inspire and Connect Youth.’
Following welcoming remarks by Secretary-General of the SC Hassan Al Thawadi, President of Community Development at QF Machaille Hassan Al Naimi, who was among the panellists in the opening session, said: “Sport instils incredible behaviours and values that cut across different sectors in our lives. It teaches things like teamwork, fairness, leadership, respect, and, most importantly, cross-cultural differences and tolerance. It is a great equaliser, bringing people from different paths together.
“When children can look at sports teams and see people of different nationalities, and different walks of life, focusing on one shared goal, it shows them that there is something greater than the individual themselves, and they can all come together.”
Explaining how this is reflected in QF’s community development focus, Al Naimi pointed to the organisation’s ability-friendly programmes, which span swimming, football, and horse-riding and create inclusive sporting opportunities for all within Qatar’s community.
And speaking about the importance of role models, she explained how athletes have brought crucial issues to the forefront of the global agenda, with professional sportspeople like Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford helping others amid the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the importance of inclusivity and leading by example.
Also joining the panel discussion was former Canadian footballer Karina LeBlanc, an Olympic bronze medallist at the London 2012 Games and a FIFA Legend, who reiterated the importance of role models in sports.
“We try to win on the field, but once we step off the field, we want to use our voices on a platform to truly make a difference to the next generation’s lives,” she said.
“I believe we’re role models; testaments to what this game can do. I’ve had the honour of participating in five different World Cups. And they’re special moments. But when you see the power of the game, and you talk to the kids, all of us dare to dream ridiculously big. And all of us had people who told us we couldn’t do it,” LeBlanc said.
“But if you dare to dream so big, it scares you, and if you’re willing to work hard, to not listen to those who tell you can’t do it, to understand that you have greatness within yourself, and to go after that, I think anything is possible.”
In a festival discussion on Innovating World Cup Legacy to Create Long-Term Impact, Programmes Director, Generation Amazing Nasser Al Khori, explained: “There are many legacy aspects to 2022 – from sustainability and the environment to the World Cup stadiums themselves – and for Generation Amazing, the focus is on creating a human and social legacy. Our pitches and programmes have provided safe spaces for communities that didn’t have access to infrastructure or youth programmes. Now we are going back to these communities to look at how we can continue to help them and build a sustainable model because social enterprise is so important.
“In the 10 years since Generation Amazing was established, one of its biggest milestones was reaching 500,000 beneficiaries. Now we are targeting one million beneficiaries by 2022 through working with our partners to continue to promote football for development, use football for good, and make it part of the legacy of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.”
Norwegian footballer Andrine Hegerberg, of Italian club AS Roma, spoke about how sport has helped children deal with the effects of COVID-19 and overcome the physiological and mental stress caused by lockdown and schools closing. Recollecting her own experience when she was in lockdown in Norway, she added: “The value of football is that it can connect people even though we’re far apart. Sport is so much more than the physical effort you put into training and games. It connects people, regardless of their background, gender, or age. It’s a bridge.”
