Across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), there are many summer camp multi-sports programs, with very few focusing purely on athletics and strength building. The research found out that most of those programs focusing on athletes are mostly limited to their members. Similarly, most schools running summer camps focused on sports, did not feature full-time boarding amenities.
Thus, we concluded that since most offer daily coaching and transport services, then most do not focus on full-time boarding type of program. Based on those constraints, we managed to find a 2015 program that focuses solely on athletics in Dubai – the Ultimate Athletics, which offer professional expert coaching services facilitated by the world’s finest former athletes and champions [2]. The academy has not disclosed much regarding its facilities; however, we believe that since in their competition results lists are multiple names of international participants, they could be offering boarding services as well.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In finding programs that are full-time summer boarding school focused on athletic training and strength building across different Olympic sports, we started by exploring the summer camps lists about sporting, education, and fun activities across Dubai. We examined lists by top news and media vendors in the region including Academic Courses [9], Edarabia [10], and Which School Advisor [11], but none featured information regarding, and full-time summer boarding school focused on athletic training and strength building.
Next, we sought to examine news, articles, and reports from the regions sports association bodies. We checked various reports by the UAE School Sports Association [12], the Special Olympics World Games [13], and the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, but still could not get meaningful data.
Third, we decided to explore mentions of similar programs on local news media by narrowing the scope to specific regions within the UAE, such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and the Northern Emirates. Luckily, we found a review about Ultimate Athletics by Gulf Youth sport, which also mentioned that they focus on purely athletics and do offer summer training. We proceeded to the website of Ultimate Athletics to verify whether they specialize in athletics and strength training and offer full-time summer boarding.
We have presented the summaries on the attached spreadsheet: Sports Summer Boarding Program tab, columns d-l.
OVERVIEW
Ultimate Athletics UAE is a leading athletics specialization and training program in Dubai facilitated by renowned world record holders in athletics. The ultimate track & field athletics academy runs several programs annually, including summer programs for all age groups age groups. They coach from beginner to elite levels, specifically sprinting, throwing, and jumping [2].
The academy has 13 specialized coaches from the world’s top countries with the most exceptional athletes such as Kenya, Ethiopia, USA, Canada, and Wales. These coaches serve the various athletics categories such as javelin, short, and long races. [3] New Balance Athletics (A U.S sports apparel brand) which is responsible for their performance gears [4]. ‘Up and Running’ also supports the academy regarding medical assistance during their key events [5].
ACTIONS TAKEN
Ultimate Athletics is a purely track & field academy focused on athletics. They are a non-multi-sport provider with the goal of making the academy the ultimate destination for everything regarding active and professional development of athletes [3]. Users register online and check for available training and competition schedules, which indicate the training venue, time, age group, content, cost, and dates [6]. The program seeks to create awareness and promote healthier lifestyles, fitness, and professional and competitive athletics.
Ultimate athletics UAE benefits its members with expert coaching services, several grassroots athletics Tots programs, multi-disciplined youth sessions, finding your strengths and nurturing them, specialized sessions for teens and adults, elite sessions, 1-2-1 private training, technique correction and analysis, as well as, monthly Ultimate Racenights, events, and workshops [7].
IMPACT
In the Ultimate Racenights competition, the only open athletics league in UAE where people freely compete against other clubs and regions, Ultimate Athletics athletes have won several categories in the competition [7]. In 2016, they won the best competitive sports organization awards for kids [8]. In 2017, they won the UAE teen sports and fitness award of excellence as the best club [8]. In 2018, they were awarded the fitness event of the year [8]. In their gallery section, they feature several athletes on the winners’ podium receiving gifts and certificates [3].
In conclusion, despite failing to find a full-time summer boarding school focused on athletic training and strength building across different Olympic sports, we have presented a similar program offering the very same services professionally. While Ultimate Athletics Academy is not a boarding school, their primary roles of coaching and training also feature full-time summer athletic training and strength building across different Olympic sports during the summer periods.