The National Health Insurance Company - Daman, today announced the launch of its pioneering Future Champions Programme (FCP). The programme which has been developed in consultation with leading professionals from across the health, sports and communications sectors, aims to build on Daman's existing youth talent development initiatives. It is an holistic programme designed to harness youth sporting talent and will equip them with the technical and soft skills needed to develop into the leaders of tomorrow.
FCP is an over-arching programme providing a larger range of personal and technical skills to develop healthy mind-sets in young participants through special workshops that will offer coaching sessions that develop leadership and sportsmanship skills such as public speaking and endurance. It will incorporate Daman's established initiatives the Daman Speed Academy (DSA) and the Daman Super 11 Football Tournament alongside the recently introduced Daman Tri-Stars.
Dr. Michael Bitzer, Chief Executive Officer at Daman, commented, "Daman is committed to establishing a healthy mind-set within the UAE community. By involving international and award-winning sportspeople, we hope to pass on the right skills and attitude to these children. We believe that by investing in young talent, we can help establish and spread healthy attitudes among them in their formative years."
Initially, 38 children who come from the existing talent development initiatives are enrolled in the FCP. The children were chosen by highly skilled professionals in their respective sports for each of the programmes. The criteria included technical skills and overall attitude.
The first workshop held yesterday and attended by 21 children, was kick-started by a presentation on motivation and endurance by Egyptian Triathlete Omar Nour. It was a resounding success with children imparted with a variety of vital development skills, including: nutritional tips and how to perform in front of the camera in a session on presentation skills. As part of the workshop, the children also attended a fun karting session.
All initiatives within the FCP have been designed by professionals and are supported by Daman's ActiveLife Ambassadors; former UK double Olympic champion, Dame Kelly Holmes, and Omar Nour. Both will be providing coaching and mentoring throughout the programme. They join the existing team of experts already heavily involved in the individual initiatives under the FCP.
Dr. Sven Rohte, Daman's Chief Commercial Officer, commented, "We are proud to see such a positive outcome from the sports initiatives that we have launched so far. The Future Champions Programme will help take this to a new level by providing the building blocks of successful professionals and replicating the DNA of champions. It is an integrated approach across multiple disciplines, just like a jigsaw puzzle where you bring all the pieces together to see the full picture."
Dr. Sven continued: "Daman's objective is to inspire the nation's youth to improve their physical and mental fitness levels, which in return will improve their performance and provide them with the skills to be the leaders of tomorrow, both on and off the track."
The FCP compliments Daman's ActiveLife initiative which aims to mobilise the UAE community to lead a healthy, active lifestyle through a wide range of events and programmes.
