Sports | Wednesday 22 March, 2017 4:37 am |

It turned out to be an out-of-the-ordinary Monday for the hardworking employees and athletes at Sharjah Women Sports Foundation (SWSF), as everyone left their work desks and training sessions to celebrate International Happiness Day, which is observed globally every year on 20 March.

The day began with the Foundation’s employees receiving roses as a token of appreciation by the sports members, in the presence of HE Nada Askar Al Naqbi, the Director General of SWSF. A series of activities followed, which were aimed at improving the happiness and positivity levels of employees.

“International Happiness Day is an important annual reminder for all of us to never lose sight of true happiness, or its pursuit. Each one of us plays a crucial role in advancing the world’s happiness movement, and a good way of making it successful is by taking a careful look not only at the world around you, but at your own thoughts, whether they’re positive or not,” said Al Naqbi in her opening address.

The day’s programme was attended by the Foundation’s employees, its sportspersons and athletes, and about 30 young attendees from the Thiqa Club for Special Needs, a Sharjah-based entity that offers physical training, treatment and sporting activities for differently abled children.

In one of the day’s happiness initiatives, the Foundation’s sportspersons and athletes were seen reading out stories to Thiqa’s children. These stories were brought in on a Knowledge without Borders (KwB) mobile library. KwB is a Sharjah Government reading initiative, which has recently finished installing home libraries for 42,000 families across the emirate.   

“As is evident from the day’s happiness schedule, we wanted to engage the SWSF team of employees as well as our athletes in ways that would enable them to give back to the community in fun, interactive ways,” added Al Naqbi highlighting the importance of wider community engagement in making people responsible for each other’s happiness, and for the overall development of society.
Launched in November 2016, SWSF strives to establish a modern and integrated system to promote women’s sports in Sharjah in accordance with best international practices. The foundation aims to empower national competencies and develop human capital in the field of women’s sports, nurturing a qualified generation of sportswomen in collaboration with international sports organisations.