Investing in our young generation

WHAT DOES ANY society need, to rise, to be productive, and to catch the train of tomorrow? We could engage in long discussions and come up with many scenarios to address this question but there is one thing that is certain, we need to invest in our young generation. We need to prepare them for the challenges of the new and rapidly changing world. On a very basic level, we could agree that we need them to be both healthy and of strong character that would enable them to deal with tomorrow’s challenges. Luckily, there seems to be a company that is aware of this, this company is Jeddah United Company.
The company started in 2003 as a social initiative but progressed thereafter to be a full-fledged business for profit. The main goal of the company is this: Simply to promote sports among the sectors of women and youth.
However, the secret recipe here is that through sports you actually kill two birds with one stone, you build a healthy generation and you build strong characters. Sports games are not the goal in themselves, it is about the soft skills that come with any kind of group activities; skills such as leadership, team work, problem solving, working hard and smart to reach the ultimate goal, etc. In fact, this is what we actually lack in our educational system. The old school of memorization and blindly knowing how to solve a mathematical problem without understanding why and how, without spending time to research and discuss, has become obsolete. Newer education systems are built upon discussions, research, and creativity.
Now, although the idea of the company seems to be simple, it faced a lot of obstacles. In general, as Saudis, our relationship with sports is something we should not be proud of. For many people, sports stops at watching a game on TV every now and then. According to one of Jeddah United videos on the Internet, 1 of 4 Saudis is diabetic, 70 percent are obese, and 80 to 90 percent of Saudi females are suffering from osteoporosis — these are scary numbers! The only way out is to embrace a healthier approach to life for ourselves and our kids, and there is nothing healthier than practicing sports. This is exactly what Jeddah United is doing through coaching kids from 4 to 6 years old, youth from 7 to 13 years old, and young adults from 13 to 17 years old.
The other major obstacle that Jeddah United has faced and remarkably has been able to overcome is, coaching women. Actually, their contribution to Saudi women sports is one of the major strengths of their brand; through their women sports teams, their brand has found its way to the spotlight both locally and internationally. Its women’s teams have been able to represent the country in a number of events.
We are all familiar with how difficult it is for women to practice sports publicly in Saudi Arabia. Without going into the debates in favor or against the matter, Jeddah United has been able to tailor its efforts to suit the country’s cultural and religious customs.
That is not all that Jeddah United is providing Saudi society, they have made efforts in promoting sports among kids with special needs and kids of families with limited income. Actually, their whole business model is based on social responsibility. Such organizations represent a new genre of businesses that some would call “low profit — limited liability cooperation,” that is, while generating profit, their primary goal still is to provide a distinguished service to society.
There are a lot of lessons to be learned from such an experience. Governmental agencies, the private sector and NGOs could all have a stake in this. Adopting, supporting and developing such initiatives is our ticket to the world of tomorrow.

— s.aldosari@yahoo.com