The British Council in partnership with the Bahrain Ministry of Education and the Bahrain Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs will be hosting the Regional Gulf Sports Conference in Bahrain from February 25 to 27.

The conference will bring together sport education experts, Youth Sport Leaders and sport teachers and coaches from the UK, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates to exchange knowledge and gain new expertise.

Educational and interactive sessions will allow delegates to draw on best practices from national educational programmes, and share newly gained experience and learning from the successes of the Youth Sports Leadership programme (YSL). The YSL is a skill-based training programme for young leaders and trainers which has run across the Gulf in the last three years and aims to create healthier and more inclusive societies through sport.

During day one Young leaders will plan and prepare for the Sport Festival on 27 February, which celebrates the achievements of over 1,000 young people and trainers across the Gulf who succeeded in completing the Youth Sport Award, a unique recognition scheme that underpins the YSL programme.

Alongside the conference will run the UK Bahrain Sports, Health and Exercise Science Symposium where Researchers & GCC partner representatives will discuss the latest developments and the future of sport science focused on sports injuries in the Gulf.

The conference will further include keynote presentations from senior representatives from the British Council, the Ministry of Education and UK Gold Medallist Duncan Goodhew. Throughout the sessions, experts in the field will exchange national sport education success stories and join a policy-maker roundtable.

Richard Rooze, British Council Bahrain director, said: “We are delighted to host the Youth Sport Leadership Conference in Bahrain. We aim to connect the UK with the Gulf and through the exchange of best practice to have a positive impact on the development of skills in young people: engagement through sports and healthier lifestyles is a key part of that development.

The conference provides a platform to explore how we can build on existing programmes and policies to further the development of sports curricula across the Gulf so that we can provide our next generation with new skills to flourish in the future. I look forward to welcoming all delegates to Bahrain.” – TradeArabia News Service