JEDDAH: Lina Khaled Almaeena, the co-founder of Jeddah United Sports Co. (JUSC), has received a class A certification from Abdullah Hammad, director of the Institute for Leadership Development at the General Sports Authority (GSA) on behalf of JUSC’s academy.
This certification comes in line with the National Transformation Program 2020, empowering young Saudis in the sports sector, and transforming sport into a source of global soft power to spread peace.
Almaeena said: “JUSC’s academy calls for pride, and at the same time, it gives us responsibility contributing to raising the level of participants, and developing sports academies in the Kingdom, in a way that enhances quality of life and achieves the Saudi Vision 2030.
“It has already established its national goals to build a strong generation morally and physically, investing its energy, time and effort to help the youth, and use the language of sport as a source of soft diplomacy.”
She pointed out that the classification was the first of its kind at the national level, as the academy had achieved social and competitive goals in line with the GSA’s strategic aims to increase the number of people playing sport in the country from 13 percent to 40 percent, boosting national pride and producing elite athletes at an international level.
She added that the JUSC’s women’s football team participated as the first team representing the Saudi Football Association in the Arab Women’s Clubs Championship in Sharjah 2017, and 6 basketball players from the club turned out for the Saudi team at the Gulf Cooperation Council Championship in Kuwait earlier this year.
She explained that the academy was launched in 2003, and that new branches were opened in Alkhobar in 2010 and Riyadh 2011. In 2006, the academy turned into a sports institution, and has since become dedicated to girls and boys’ football and basketball activities, with various other sports programs.
The co-founder and managing director of JUSC, Obaid Ghazi Madani, highlighted the great accomplishments of the academy, in training tens of thousands of girls and boys to achieve the Kingdom’s vision — investing young people’s time in a way that contributes to pushing them to exercise.
