Second Annual Souss Girls' Soccer Camp

The second annual Souss Girls’ Soccer Camp was held June 22-28 in Taroudant, Morocco. AMJAD, a Moroccan women’s professional soccer team partnered with Peace Corps Volunteer, Tatiana Cary, as well as the local commune and various community associations to once again bring this amazing girls soccer camp to the southern region of Morocco. Tatiana who entered Peace Corps with a strong soccer background and passion for the sport had hopes of finding a way to incorporate girls’ soccer into her service. After hearing about last year’s Souss Girls’ Soccer Camp in Temsia she asked Kirsten Zeiter and John DeBellis to introduce her to the AMJAD soccer team. AMJAD’s enthusiasm after last year’s camp in Temsia was a driving force to recreate this project on their home turf in Taroudant. Tatiana began to meet with the AMJAD team in early January of 2014 to start brainstorming what this second camp would look like. A timeline was created over weekly meetings, where Tatiana really encouraged the AMJAD women to take ownership and help create the vision of what they wanted the camp to be. 

The camp was designed to encourage girls’ interest in sports and community engagement by fostering a safe and organized girls only camp where they could play soccer. Goals for the camp included improved soccer skills, self-confidence, healthy nutrition practices, exercise habits and lifestyle choices. The professional female athletes hoped to model and teach the connection between healthy life choices and pursuing sports goals, while demonstrating a commitment to adopting an overall healthy lifestyle. 

For many of the young girls, this camp was the first opportunity of its kind. This year’s camp in Taroudant hosted close to 45 girls from the Souss-Massa region which included: Taroudant, Ouled Teima, Gififat, Ouled Dahou, Sbt Igerdane, Talouine and Akka. A vision for the camp was to have many different towns represented as a way for girls interested in sports and soccer to find camaraderie in playing with girls from other towns.  Although these communities vary in size and resources, they all share an absence of opportunities for girls to engage in education and development activities. This camp has become a means for boosting girls development and empowerment through soccer.

The week was filled with all sorts of soccer related activity including morning soccer practice where the girls were divided into teams blending regions and ages. These morning sessions included stretches, warm-ups, drills and scrimmages. The afternoon sessions included health workshops, one focusing on nutrition and how to be a healthy athlete and the second on first aid, the Heimlich maneuver and CPR. The girls also received three soccer workshops focusing on technical skills, rules, regulations, AMJAD and playing techniques. The evening activities were led by a local group of counselors that did games, a small talent show, singing, dancing and on one night they led a tour of Taroudant. Thanks to the timing of the camp the girls were also able to watch the United States versus Germany World Cup Game one afternoon at a local cafe. Another unexpected event that coincided with a scheduled beach trip was the region wide Souss Championship Game. On Tuesday, June 24, the camp ventured to Taghazout to enjoy a morning at the beach complete with singing, drumming, swimming and beach soccer. The girls then enjoyed a picnic lunch in an Agadir garden and then it was on to Ait Melloul for AMJAD’s championship game. The counselors and Peace Corps volunteers helped the girls to make signs and lead them in cheers throughout the game. It was an incredible opportunity for the girls attending the camp to see their counselors, the professional women’s team, play to a victory of 3-1 over their opponent. Afterwards the AMJAD players and campers alike enjoyed photos with the trophy and celebrated their victory. The week rounded out with a tournament among the girls’ teams and a very nice certificate ceremony where all who contributed to the camp were recognized. 

According to Tatiana, giving AMJAD the resources to be the agents of community development was the key to the success of this camp. Each of the AMJAD counselors played a unique role in the camp, carrying their own set of responsibilities that helped contribute to the larger whole. AMJAD was solely responsible for finding all of the community partners and associations that greatly contributed to the camp including the soccer stadium, the boarding school, the cultural center, counselors, logistical support, animators, and more. The involvement of various community partners and associations provided a way for the community to be invested in and part of the camp, a truly incredible outpouring of Moroccan volunteers. Running a second Souss Girls’ Soccer Camp in a new location has helped to prove that this model works and can be successful in different locations. The publicity that this camp has generated across the region has sparked the interest of other towns to host in the years to come, which will hopefully help this camp to become more easily replicable across Morocco.

Having girls play soccer challenges gender stereotypes the world over but especially here in Morocco where women’s sports are still lacking development and support. Whereas any PCV could teach soccer skills this camp allowed young Moroccan girls to see their older Moroccan peers as leaders, professionals and successful soccer players. A PCV who participated at the camp noted how special it was for these young girls to watch the professional women play as well as interact with them. While watching the AMJAD professional championship game she was flooded with memories from her own experience growing up playing soccer in the states and the influence that the U.S. women’s national team had on her as a youth. She hoped that the girls’ experience at camp would have that kind of positive impact on them and their future development. Providing this type of opportunity for the campers to see the women’s professional team not only play, but be recognized and respected for their hard work and achievements during the championship match was an unexpected highlight of the camp. This type of role modeling for the younger girls by the AMJAD players is something that this camp hopes to continue to foster through future camps. AMJAD hopes to continue hosting and participating in future girls’ soccer camps not only in the Souss region but throughout Morocco.