GUIDES
What sports can girls do in Doha?
Every sport here is open to girls from four, and three groups are girls-only: girls' football, U14 girls basketball and U14 girls volleyball. Two of the six coaches on the roster are women.
THE DETAIL
01The girls-only groups
Football runs a girls' group on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Basketball runs a U14 girls group alongside its U14 boys group. Volleyball is a single group and it is U14 girls.
02The mixed groups
Gymnastics, karate, taekwondo, roller skating, badminton and swimming group by age and level rather than by sex, and the youngest basketball group is U8 mixed.
03The coaches
Souad Benani, a former national-team captain, coaches basketball and fitness. Katia Saraoui, a Physical Education graduate, coaches fitness and karate. The academy trains inside Durham School in Al Messila.
04If you want a girls-only group in another sport
Ask. Groups are formed around who signs up, and the girls' football group exists because families asked for it.
Common questions
What sports can girls do in Doha?
- 01
Are there girls-only sports groups in Doha?
- Yes. At Ecole Sports there are three: girls' football, U14 girls basketball and U14 girls volleyball. The other sports group by age and level rather than by sex.
- 02
Are there female coaches?
- Two of the six coaches on the roster are women — Souad Benani, a former national-team captain who coaches basketball and fitness, and Katia Saraoui, a Physical Education graduate who coaches fitness and karate.
- 03
What age can a girl start?
- Four, the same as the boys, and groups run to sixteen.