Mohammed Al Mutawaa, who recently became the first ever Arab to have been selected to the FIA Institute’s Young Driver Excellence Academy, will this week attend the first Academy workshop in Edinburgh. He will be joined by 17 other talented young drivers from around the world who will receive top class training to help them develop their natural skills and adopt improved practices in their sporting careers.
The workshop is based at Edinburgh University, using the first-class facilities available in the Scottish capital. The drivers will be put through their paces in the gym and classroom over three long days, starting with a physiology lecture on Sunday morning. From then on they will undergo a grueling mixture of workouts which will test their physical and mental capabilities, while laying the foundations for the year of learning which lies ahead.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, ATCUAE President and FIA Vice President commented: “Even though all the young people selected by the Academy are capable of driving fast, the FIA Institute’s Young Driver Excellence Academy will give them the tools they need to became better and stronger athletes, both physically and mentally, and will highlight safety as the major value for any professional driver in the world.”
Academy Performance Managers Robert Reid and Alex Wurz will both be on hand to guide the new recruits through all the sessions. The most grueling of these will feature a workout in a heat chamber set at 40 degrees to demonstrate the importance of hydration and preparation. This being the opening workshop in the 2012 program, the drivers will get their first insight into the exceptional level of training that the Academy will expose them to this year.
Alex Wurz said: “The first workshop is really exciting for me because this is where the real work starts. We will do the core fitness training with the 18 drivers and see how they match up to the professional level. As well as the training, it will be good to start working one-on-one with the drivers and help with their career-planning.”
Robert Reid said: “It’s very exciting to be at the start of a new program with 18 new drivers. This workshop is about setting goals for the season ahead. We’ll be showing the drivers what’s to come in the Academy program in terms of training, and what we expect of them in the classroom, at the gym and on the track.”
This event is focused on developing initial skills and knowledge in the areas of fitness, nutrition, and hydration, all essential factors for the safety and development of drivers. Further sessions during the workshop will look at career goal-setting and dealing with the media.
