Aspetar shines at UK summit by revealing recent research insights into the relationship between injury risks and developing sports talent.

Doha, Qatar: November 13th 2014 – Partnering for the 4th year in a row with the prestigious Sports Performance Summit, which took place from 12th – 13th November, Aspetar once again highlighted their understanding and support of athletes’ performance and health. Since its inception, the event has been named ‘Leaders in Performance’ and been held at the Chelsea Football Stadium in London. This year, a refreshed image sees the conference, which was held in the Emirates Stadium in London for the first time, renamed as ‘the Sport Performance Summit’. The summit was successfully concluded on Thursday 13th November after more than 600 delegates from 27 countries and 25 sporting backgrounds attended the global gathering for sport performance experts. The Aspetar sessions, which covered leadership of major professional and amateur sporting associations and other leaders in the fields of sports medicine, the sports sciences, fitness, high profile athletes, and experts from other areas of the sports industry, were lauded for their successful participated in several panels that attracted a vast number of attendees, shared valuable insights, and encouraged specialists to continue advancement in their own respective fields.Commenting on this occasion, Dr Khalifa AlKuwari, Aspetar’s Director General said

“Our participation in this international summit for the 4th consecutive year confirms our continuous dedication to share our expertise and knowledge in the field of sports medicine and sports science with international organisations that will allow us to confirm our mission, which is to assist athletes to achieve their full potential”.

During the Sport Science Panel Discussion entitled ‘How To Maintain Success Once You Have It’, which was moderated by Mathew Wilson, Aspetar’s Head of Athlete Health and Performance Research, Dr Hakim Chalabi, Aspetar’s Assistant Director General for International Medical Affairs and Programmes & Centres of Excellence, as member explored the topics of leadership, club philosophy, and sustaining athlete longevity through innovative sport science and medicine strategies, while also ensuring his audience understood the concept of risk and building sustainability into an effective setting. The panel discussion also examined the philosophy of how to build a high-performance sporting environment capable of achieving the highest levels of success, whilst considering strategies of how to maintain this success in the face of competitor advances and market pressure. The morning session on health performance, which was attended by more than 200 delegates, was an excellent discussion based on Aspetar’s ‘The Demise of the Fittest: Are we Destroying our Most Talented Athletes?’ presented by Professor Roald Bahr, Head of Aspetar’s Injury and Illness Prevention Programme (ASPREV) who revealed the latest research and insights into relationships between sports talent and injury risk, and highlighted the responsibility for nurturing talent into world-class athletes. Professor Bahr, who presented the talk, used examples of volleyball play and the chronic injury patella tendonopathy on jumper’s knee, expressing the important message that everyone, especially coaches, need to look at: the training and competition load on young athletes”. In this cutting-edge talk, which was over capacity due to its popularity, there followed an open discussion session which emphasised that assisting athletes to reach their full potential was the end goal of every performance programme. Focused on performance and health, Aspetar have previously highlighted sports cardiology, heat and exercise and the science of concussion during the symposium, and now aimed to bring to light the serious consequences of overtraining and the risk of injury to the athlete. Due to issues like these, many gifted young athletes never reach their peak level and their careers have been halted or even ruined by overuse injuries or other health problems, which are often caused by inappropriate training and competition. In conjunction with the Sports Performance Summit, Aspetar also sponsored a special symposium that addressed ‘Leadership: Style & Culture’, which was presented by the famous FC Arsenal Manager, Aresne Wenger. In an in-depth interview, Wenger showcased his management style and how he recruits top players, and also shared his plans for team building, identifying undervalued talent, creating a winning environment and leading modern sportsmen. Aspetar supported the event with a robust marketing and networking strategy that functioned to share the knowledge and expertise of both Aspetar and the Aspire Zone Foundation, which consisted of an interactive booth, information sharing and collaterals that showcase Qatar’s commitment to Sport. The Annual Aspetar Dinner was held the evening before the Congress and was aimed at promoting Qatar, the Aspire Zone Foundation and Aspetar, its services, Centers of Excellence and Programmes.