The Quality Enhancement Cell of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi organized a one day seminar on "Sports Management & Sports for Development". A large number of students and faculty members attended the seminar that highlighted the importance of Sports Management in promoting the sports culture in the country.

Aamir Bilal, the CEO and founder of Sports Development Foundation, who is a qualified IOC Coach and ex-Media Advisor of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), gave a detailed presentation on different aspects of sport management and sports for development.

While dwelling on sports management Aamir said, “Sports Management is a combination of skills relating to organizing, planning, directing, controlling, financing, evaluating, analyzing and leading within the context of an organization or department whose primary services are related to sport and physical activities. The root cause of our present day poor performance in competitive sports at international level is the management inadequacies and lack of qualified human resource to manage the affairs of sport bodies in the country”. He added that the incompetent and undeserving persons will keep intruding in the national sport system till the time Pakistani Universities start producing sport management subject specialists.

He said that sport is a time-tested vehicle to teach "Life skills" and inculcate in our youth the valuable virtues of leadership, teamwork, discipline and tolerance. He emphasized that the value of different subjects offered under the umbrella of sports management and the new job market sport management can create for the young management graduates of the country.

While talking to the students and faculty members on Sports for Development, Aamir highlighted the importance and use of sports for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 in the country. He explained how sports can be used for enhancing enrollment in primary schools and for promoting gender equity and improving the health indicators at national level. He also explained how sports can be used as a tool for addressing some of the modern day challenges that rise from humanitarian crises and in conflict and post conflict settings.

The best practices of sports management and sports for development around the world were shared with the students who deeply appreciated the seminar. The seminar included an interactive session in which students of the University participated enthusiastically.