By Alexander Jusdanis
Rabat – Three women sports professionals from the United States will travel to Morocco in late September to hold workshops for young athletes, the US Department of State has announced.
Athletes Shannon Rowbury and Maggie Vessey and trainer Rose Monday have been invited by the US Embassy’s Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs to the kingdom has part of the Sports Envoys program, which holds sports clinics around the world to “engage youth in a dialogue on the importance of leadership and respect for diversity,” according to the program’s website.
The three “envoys” will holding training workshops September 22 to 25 at the headquarters of the Fédération Royale Marocaine d’Athlétisme in Rabat and September 26 to 28 in Marrakech, Asni, Douar Laadam, and Amzmiz.
The training sessions, held in partnership with the Association Filles Al Amal Assaloui, will be aimed for both coaches and young athletes, intending to “build the capacities of girls through sports,” the State Department wrote in a press statement.
“The objective of the program in Morocco is to both strengthen the technical performance of the participants and have them discover how playing sports contributes to their socio-professional development,” said the statement.
Rowbury is a middle-distance runner and the 1500-meter and 5000-meter title-holder. She represented the US at the Olympic Games in Peking, London, and Rio de Janeiro.
Vessey is also a middle-distance runner, who won the women’s 800-meter at the Grand Prix de Herculis in Monaco in 2009.
Monday is a long- and medium-distance coach. She was the assistant coach for the US women’s team at the London Olympic Games, the head coach of the US women’s team for the 2015 Pan American Games, and the assistant coach for long distance racing at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
