Rose at a meeting
The US embassy in Doha recently hosted American soccer coach, Sari Rose, as the first sports envoy for 2012.
Rose is a doctoral candidate at the University of North Carolina Greensboro and a coach at North Carolina Youth Soccer Association.
She started off her tour in Doha with a visit to Al Jazeera Academy, where she spoke with over 50 Qatari girls about life on and off the field and conducted a soccer clinic.
Rose believes sports like soccer are an integral part of building healthy and participatory societies. Playing on athletic teams teaches youth the meaning of teamwork, leadership, and excellence.
She met with the leadership of the Qatar Women’s Sport Committee and shared stories about the history of women’s soccer in the US and Qatar, and exchanged best practices in athlete development, leadership, and community participation.
Rose presented the chairperson of the Women’s Sport Committee, Ahlam al-Manai, with a personalised copy of The Man Watching, a biography of Anson Dorrance, a leader in women’s soccer in the US.
The sports envoy’s activities culminated in a friendship match between the Good Neighbour American Team and the Qatari Women’s National Soccer Team at the Yarmouk school. The US embassy’s deputy chief of mission, Mirembe Nantongo, helped open the match, reiterating that Rose’s visit is only the beginning of the embassy’s efforts to promote sports co-operation in Qatar.
US ambassador Susan L Ziadeh, hosted a reception at her residence to celebrate US - Qatar sports collaboration, and to honour the Qatar Women’s National Soccer Team and the local sports community.
Members of the Qatar Olympic Committee, Qatar Women’s Sport Committee, and the Good Neighbour American Team also attended the reception.