First Ever Sports Academy Launched in Somalia
Sports-loving individuals including Somali expatriates who returned to the country have established the first ever sports academy in Mogadishu.
The sports academy was named after the former Somali Olympic committee president Aden Hajji Wiish who was killed by Al-shabaab militants in April this year. The academy is called 'Wiish academy for sport and peace' development.
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Amin Isse Bulhan the chairman of Wiish Academy told the media about the importance of launching such academy. He says he was hopeful that the academy may play a key role in the promotion of Somali sport and the disarmament of child-soldiers in collaboration with Somali National Olympic committee and its member federations.
The academy has until now collected more than 150 street children and teenagers who are taught different sport in 5 districts in the Somali capital Mogadishu. The children are taken to Lido beach resort in Mogadishu on Fridays where they play football and take swimming sessions.
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"Our mission is one way to help the development of sport in Somalia and to protect the street children and those from poorer families from being used as fighters by the terrorists and warmongers in Somalia, Mr. Bulhan told the media.
He said the Wiish academy is now open in the capital Mogadishu and will establish branches in regions across the country by the end of next year.
Mr. Bulhan and his young age coach Omar Ahmed Jabshe are the founders of the Nairobi-based Somali community team 'East Leigh stars' who currently play in the Kenyan division B league.
"Somalia is a war-weary country and we believe that sport can play a key role in putting an end to the long-running lawlessness and wars in Somalia and that is why we established this academy for peace and sports development," the academy co-founder Amin Isse Bulhan told the media.****
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Shafi'i Mohyaddin Abokar is the NewsBlaze Somalia reporter. Contact him through NewsBlaze. Read more stories by Shafi'i Mohyaddin Abokar.
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