From players and coaches engaging youth overseas to teams mentoring emerging women in sports, the U.S. State Department’s Office of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and the National Football League ( NFL) today announced plans to create new opportunities for collaboration and cooperation through sports. diplomacy, a powerful tool used to support U.S. foreign policy at home and abroad.
This fall, as part of the US State Department’s (espnW Global Sports Mentoring Program), the Department’s premier exchange for women in sports, the NFL and the Green Bay Packers will serve as a mentoring organization for the first time for Fouzia Madhouni from Morocco. Madhouni is the first African professional American football player and the founder of ‘We Can Morocco’, an organization that empowers women and girls through leadership courses and American football sessions while working with men to talk about their role in the advancement of gender equality. . She will be mentored by Taryn Hutt, NFL vice president of club marketing; Nicole Ledvina, Vice President of Human Resources for the Green Bay Packers; and Chris Cohorst, Human Resources Manager for the Green Bay Packers of New York and Green Bay, Wisconsin. Madhouni will work with them to develop an action plan to implement in her home country to empower women and girls through sport.
Additionally, beginning in 2023, in coordination with the NFL and U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide, NFL players and coaches will travel abroad through the Department’s Sports Envoy Program of State, which sends American athletes, coaches and administrators abroad to engage the underrepresented and young. communities on the ground and in society about the importance of key American values, such as democracy, diversity and inclusion, and civic engagement.
The NFL joins numerous other professional and amateur sports leagues and organizations in supporting US sports diplomacy efforts, including Athletes Unlimited, Harlem Globetrotters, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, National Basketball Association, National Collegiate Athletic Association. (NCAA), the National Hockey League, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), Special Olympics, USA Boxing, USA Cycling, USA Hockey, USA Rugby, USA Skateboarding, USA Softball, USA Swimming, USA Volleyball, USA Wrestling, U.S. Association, USA Figure Skating, USA Soccer, USA Skiing and Snowboarding, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, United States Tennis Association (USTA), United States Track and Field, Women’s National Basketball Association ( WNBA), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the World Surfing League.
For more information, contact the Office of Educational and Cultural Affairs at ECA-Press@state.gov and follow the Department’s Sports Diplomacy division on Twitter @SportsDiplomacy.
