In coordination with Embassy Moscow and Consulate General Yekaterinburg (Omsk) and in partnership with the Professional Disc Golf Association, The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will send American disc golfers Nate Doss #11794 and Valarie Jenkins #17495 to Russia for the Department’s first-ever disc golf program. With grants supported by the U.S. State Department and their SportsUnited program and the University of Tennessee's “Empowering Women and Girls Through Sport” initiative, Jenkins and Doss will be representing the United States and introducing disc golf to the people of Russia.

Sports Diplomacy has emerged as an integral part of efforts to build ever-strengthening relations between the United States and other nations. Sports diplomacy uses the universal passion for sports as a way to transcend linguistic and sociocultural differences and bring people together.

-SportsUnited

From June 1 through June 7, these envoys will be leading clinics with children and instructors as well as leading disability sports activities with children from Youth Ministries and the Kirovskiy Orphanage for Children with Developmental Disability. Envoy-led dialogue on league development and “growing the game” will directly help the local disc golfers in Moscow and Omsk jumpstart their promotion within schools and the general popularity within the community. To wrap-up the trip, they will host a disc golf demonstration in Omsk during the “City Inclusive Sports Event" at City Park. The city will have a sports day in the park, and will be organizing a special portion of the park devoted to disc golf.  As part of the event, the envoys and local disc golfers will introduce a few basic moves and run a quick training for the general public.

This outbound program supports the U.S. government’s priorities to empower youth, promote inclusion, and encourage entrepreneurialism and prosperity. The envoys will emphasize the egalitarian nature of the game and demonstrate how disc golf “levels the playing field” for women and people with disabilities. With programming in Moscow and Omsk, this inaugural disc golf program provides an opportunity for the U.S. Department of State to connect positively with hard-to-reach audiences in Russia.

Valarie and Nathan have traveled all around the world for disc golf tournaments, but this will be their first international trip specifically focused on teaching the sport. “This trip is an exciting opportunity, not only because we will be traveling to uncharted territory, but because of the possibility that this trip will lead to a future where disc golf will become more globally recognized,” says Doss. With the US government supporting this mission, it truly brings a new perspective to disc golf as we can reach out to new countries and bridge the cultural gap through sports and recreation.

One major aspect of the trip is to empower women and promote disc golf as an all-inclusive sport, which Jenkins knows first-hand as the Chair of the PDGA Women’s Committee and founder of DiscGolf4Women.com. Jenkins explains, “I am honored to represent the United States and be the voice of women disc golfers. As a female athlete growing up within this sport, I have witnessed the positive momentum building in the recent years in the number of women playing. Disc golf is an incredible sport that is accessible to all people regardless of physical ability, gender, race, or age. I am inspired with the growth of women’s disc golf in the U.S. and hopefully I can inspire those that we are able to teach in Russia as well.”

We will catch up again with these two when they return home to the United States to hear about their adventures. In the meantime, you can follow Valarie and Nathan as they blog their travels through Russia on their website, OnTourDiscGolf.com,  and on Twitter, @OnTourDiscGolf, Also, be sure to check out the blog posts from the US Department of State’s “Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports” Initiative at www.globalsportswomen.org.