First Ergometer Training Course in Gaza

Young children are initiated to the sport of rowing in Gaza
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40 young teenagers from the Beach Refugee Camp in Gaza have been given the opportunity to take up rowing through a training course program set up by the Palestinan rowing federation.

The course began on February 25 and was the outcome of months of preparation and planning by federation officials Ghassan Haddad and Iradj El-Qalqili.

Lessons take place every second day and the program goes on for four weeks, at the end of which children will be able to do 15-minutes sessions on the ergometer. Four groups are currently in training.

Participants are coached by Haddad and El-Qalqili, but also tutored by men and women from the refuge camp who are following a coaching course at the same time.

The task is not an easy one, as many of the young aspiring athletes lack even the basics of sports training, and many find it difficult to master just the warming-up and conditioning exercises.

However, nothing tarnishes the enthusiasm of the children, not even their lack of sports equipment (some do not even have shoes) or the many powercuts, which make the coaches job of correcting technique close to impossible in the dark.

The next step will be to take those children with longer term ambitions in rowing and teach them to swim, so that they are prepared for the conditions in the only rowing spot in the area – the Mediterranean port of Gaza. 

In the meantime, another first stage course will be organised to give the chance to more children to practice this new sport. 

The Beach Camp counts 65000 inhabitants, 44000 of which are children. Very few opportunities are available to them in their spare time.