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ConGen Jeddah leverages community sports in Saudi Arabia [1]

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Date: 2023-07-07  

By Dan Buchman

Throughout 2023, the U.S. Consulate General in Jeddah has coordinated with American non-profit Global Sports Partners, and a local organization, Team Up, to train Saudi coaches in U.S. coaching styles and sports. This initiative—which ran during the first half of the year—encourages social development in a manner reflecting shared U.S.-Saudi values while advancing the Mission’s goals of empowering women and youth and establishing relationships with rising leaders across Saudi society.

Saudi Arabia invests heavily in athletics, funding the training of future Olympians in sports from mixed martial arts to skiing, which limits demand for programming with elite coaches. The United States, with its unique coaching methodologies focused on grassroots development and community sports, maintains a competitive advantage in amateur and grade-school athletics.

As a part of ConGen Jeddah-led programming, five American trainers traveled to Saudi Arabia to run a sports diplomacy program, drilling participants in transformational coaching—a teaching style emphasizing character building and core values, focusing on athletes’ holistic development. Fifteen participating coaches learned to set group norms, model constructive behavior, communicate to a wide range of skill levels, and motivate athletes to aspire to greater personal and athletic achievement.

This initiative helps to pave the way for greater gender equity and inclusion in Saudi sports. The most recent cohorts were co-ed, and the final session will be exclusively for women to reach coaches who may not have been comfortable in co-ed environments. The program has also incorporated two multi-sport camps where participants coached 70 Saudi primary school students while receiving real-time feedback on their methods from trainers. The camps also introduced iconic American sports like kickball and ultimate frisbee to students and coaches.

Empowering participants with American methodologies serves as a force multiplier for U.S.-Saudi ties, as coaches work with students throughout the country. This project has already inspired other local organizations and coaches in Saudi Arabia to adopt transformational coaching practices.

Dan Buchman is a cultural affairs officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Jeddah.

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[1] Url: https://statemag.state.gov/2023/07/0723itn02/

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