Manama, Bahrain, August 25, 2025: First-up for the coaches and referees on the opening day of the OCA-AMMA development programme was how to keep the athletes ‘safe’.
A one-hour Safeguarding workshop conducted by the OCA’s Gender Equity and Safeguarding Manager, Sabine Fakhoury, kick-started a packed three-day programme on Monday, August 25.
“It is important to make sure when practising MMA, the athlete feels safe – physically and mentally,” Fakhoury told a combined session of coaches and referees.
So before coming to grips with striking and grappling, all participants, especially the coaches who are those closest to the athletes, were given a run-through on what constitutes a ‘safe sport environment.’
With the OCA committed to its initiative of ‘Guarding the Asian Games’, this development training programmes will include imparting knowledge on Safeguarding, Prevention of Competition Manipulation and Anti-Doping.
With Safeguarding up first, straight after the opening speeches had been made, Fakhoury was able to keep the attention of her audience of more than 100 coaches and referees, and even the 10 instructors who will be conducting the development programme.
“It is good to catch them early in the day, and this being the first of many sessions, they were all wide awake,” laughed Fakhoury.
She made it interesting with an interactive presentation where the audience took part in answering questions on their smartphones.
Much to her delight, local girl Sharifa Adel was top of the class, winning a six-question quiz on safeguarding. “I must admit I was at a bit of an advantage as I was quite familiar with the topic,” said Sharifa, who is a referee with Bahrain MMA.
Among the key topics delivered by Fakhoury were the definition and importance of safe sport, forms of harassment and abuse, ranging from physical to psychological, an individual’s role and responsibilities in safeguarding, and how to report misdemeanours to the authorities.
