Special Olympics UAE and UAE Winter Sports Federation inaugurated

Agencies | Abu Dhabi

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The UAE Winter Sports Federation and the Leaders Qualification Center, Special Olympics UAE are organizing a virtual floorball coaching fundamentals session in preparation for the Special Olympics World Winter Games Kazan 2022.

Yahya Al Junaibi, coach of the UAE National Floorball Team and Chairman of the Ice Hockey Federation Referees Committee at the UAE Winter Sports Federation, is the lead trainer and will cover the concepts and specifics of floorball training in Special Olympics during the session, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

This session is the first to be organized under a memorandum of understanding signed between the UAE Winter Sports Federation and Special Olympics UAE at the end of 2020, which aims to develop Special Olympics winter sports, and provide training and development opportunities for coaches and players in preparation for participation at the Special Olympics World Winter Games Kazan 2022.

Other topics covered at the session include the history of floorball, the rules and regulations of organizing Floorball competitions, the fundamentals of floorball training, in addition to highlighting the strong participation of the UAE at the Special Olympics MENA Floorball Cup, held in Cairo in 2019, which qualifies for participation in the Special Olympics World Winter Games Kazan 2022. The Special Olympics UAE women's team came first and won the gold medal, which qualified them for the games, while the UAE men's team won the third place and took the bronze medal.

"We are delighted to activate our partnership with the UAE Winter Sports Federation and the Leaders Development Center and organize this session for floorball coaches. Floorball is an important sport with growing popularity within Special Olympics UAE, especially in light of the remarkable achievements of the UAE national teams in the Special Olympics MENA cup, we are looking forward to a strong participation at the next Special Olympics World Winter Games Kazan 2022, and training is one of the strategic pillars of our preparation plans for it." National Director of Special Olympics UAE Talal Al Hashemi said.

Floorball can be practised at different types of venues and is particularly suited to Special Olympics athletes. It is an established sport that has been practised for more than five decades and has an international federation with 74 member countries. Floorball is also practised through Unified Sports and brings together People of Determination with intellectual disabilities and Unified Partners.

The upcoming Special Olympics World Winter Games Kazan 2022 will serve as a new catalyst for sporting achievements for the Special Olympics UAE athletes and will demonstrate the power of sport in building prosperous and inclusive societies. The games will be held from 22-28 January 2022 and will bring together 2,000 athletes and unified partners from 108 countries and 3,000 volunteers from all over the world to Kazan, Russia to affirm the values of acceptance and inclusion through participation in sport.