First Ergometer Course in Gaza - a Success

A young girl receives her certificate after completing the first ever ergometre course held in a refugee camp in Gaza

Eleven young girls aged between 12 and 14 have just finished the first part of their ergometre introduction course, as part of a program established by the Palestinian Rowing Federation to introduce rowing into the lives of children of the Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza.

During this four-week introductory course, the young novices learned basic warming up techniques and exercises, strength building exercises and basic rowing technique. The final exam was a 15 minute ergometre session at 20 stokes per minute. Most of the girls had never even seen a rowing boat before being shown a training video during their ?graduation ceremony?.

All participating girls have already signed up for the second part of the course, which begins this week. This second stage will train them to do longer distance erg sessions, and introduce them to more demanding exercises and training regime.

The first Ergometer Cup should take place in Gaza this autumn, but before that, training will be punctuated by a series of small competitions in which the winner will be the one to get closer to a set distance in a fixed amount of time. This way, rewards will not only go to the strongest rower, but will put emphasis on stroke rate and strength management.

A group of young boys are also about to finish their first stage of the course.

In addition to this program in the Shati refugee camp, Palestinian Rowing Federation president Ghassan Haddad along with Iradj El-Qalqili are in negotiation with several sports clubs, coaches and sponsors in order to develop their activities within and outside Gaza.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the program or contacting the Palestinian Rowing Federation can click here, or e-mail iradj_el-qalqili@web.de