Ambassador Attends CNSF Graduation

Special day for young African coach

 

The closing ceremony for this years CNSF Young Coaches Camp brought a special moment for Mohamed Diara. Traveling up from Washington D.C. just to be present for this moment, was the honorable Abdoulaye Diop, Ambassador of the Republic of Mali.

 

Mohamed was the first recipient of the David Miller Memorial African Scholarship. For the first time Mohamed had traveled outside of his small community in Segou and now he was meeting Malis Ambassador to the United States. This is like a dream. To come to America, to see so many wonderful things he had observed.

 

Ambassador Diop spoke about how programs like this offer hope and a chance for cultures to learn from each other. Mohamed was visibly moved when the Ambassador presented him with his award.

 

The David Miller African Memorial Scholarship offers a young African coach the same opportunity that young coaches across America are getting. Mohamed did very well considering that his back ground in the game is so different from most of the other coaches observed Larry Paul, CNSF Program Director. In fact, with our emphasis on small sided games at the camp his experience with street soccer was probably an asset.