A Qatar Foundation (QF) student and Generation Amazing Foundation youth advocate joined more than 75 other female ambassadors from around the world to highlight the unifying power of sports at the recent FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.
A series of workshops held as part of Festival23 – an eight-day youth festival of Football for Good held in Sydney, Australia, on the sidelines of the global football tournament – were centered around empowering women in sports and included participants from 40 different nations, including Argentina, Italy, and New Zealand.
Among the 10-strong delegation sent by Generation Amazing Foundation was Zeina Mahmoud, a student at QF partner university, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q). While many of the sessions focused on promoting equality in sports, according to Mahmoud, other key themes were also highlighted, such as diversity and inclusivity. "There was a workshop that saw participants meet with someone with cerebral palsy, someone with autism,” she says. “And this was very eye-opening.
“One of the activities included being blindfolded and trying to play football, and then wearing noise cancelling headphones and trying to play football. This was so hard. But seeing how people with disabilities played was incredible. This workshop truly changed my perspective on everything.
“There were a lot of language barriers. There was a group from Argentina that didn't speak any English, so someone in the group had to translate. In the end, we had to conform to nonverbal communication, so when we're doing the activities, like running, we had to act this out.”
Explaining how her family inspires her to be an advocate for women in sports, she says: “I want to use this experience at Festival23, and with Generation Amazing, to empower young Arab girls, like my sister.
“Both my brother and sister want to become professional footballers – they’re both training with the PSG Academy Qatar. I want my sister, as a woman, to have the same opportunities my brother would have. And this motivates me.
“I saw incredible women on the field at the Women’s World Cup who had overcome so many challenges. And I would love to see Arab women take that center stage someday.”
Mahmoud has been a Generation Amazing Foundation youth advocate for two years, after first learning about the programme while she was in high school at Qatar Academy Doha – a school under QF’s Pre-University Education. She hopes to continue helping women long into the future.
“I want to focus on helping to promote comfortable and modest athleisure clothing, and see where I can take it, especially in terms of supporting local brands,” she says.
Mahmoud is currently in her second year at CMU-Q, where she is studying Business Administration. A keen sportswoman, she played football as a child and continued to play it last year, where her team placed first in an Education City women's football tournament. She is also part of the university’s basketball team.
Explaining how QF promotes sports among women in Qatar, she says: “There are so many sporting opportunities for women, and for everyone, at Qatar Foundation – tournaments, facilities like the Recreation Centre, and activities and programs like those held on National Sport Day.”
One such offering is QF’s Ladies Night, which hosts sports activities for women and girls only. Held monthly, the next edition will take place at the Education City Stadium on September 27.
