First batch of sports therapists graduate under Crown Prince initiative

AMMAN — HRH Crown Prince Hussein on Saturday presented sports therapist accreditation cards to the first class of graduates who passed the basic test, accredited by the Jordan Sport Medicine Federation.

The cards qualify the medics to officially practise sports therapy under the Qusai Initiative, one of the Crown Prince’s major initiatives. 

The Crown Prince congratulated the graduates who earned the licence, noting that the training was meant to help improve the sports therapy sector, develop its tools, and reduce the number of injured athletes in accordance with international standards, with the ultimate goal of ensuring a "safe sports environment".

The Qusai Initiative aims to reduce treatment mistakes that endanger the lives of athletes, improve infrastructure to support sports therapy development, create a diploma programme in the field, and issue a law that demands having a sports therapist at federations and clubs, according to literature related to the programme. 

Khalid Zeidan, the initiative’s adviser, said 12 sports therapists passed the basic requirements as part of a programme that will continue until 2017, targeting current therapists and offering them advanced workshops and tests to pave the way for a new generation of highly qualified medics.

Zeidan said Jordan is the first Arab country to issue such licences, through adopting current therapists and preparing them to obtain an official sports therapy accreditation card that is to be renewed every two years, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The “shocking” death of young football player Qusai Khawaldeh on the field during 2013 prompted the launch of Qusai Initiative.

Members of the initiative, which was founded by Crown Prince Hussein in January 2014, have taken it upon themselves to minimise injuries and deaths associated with athletic activities in Jordan.