Hijazi to Serve as U.S. Sports Ambassador

Lexi Hijazi has one busy summer lined up. The Rye Middle School seventh grader recently accepted an invitation to act as a Sports Ambassador for People to People International, the program created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to promote world peace through face-to-face encounters with other cultures. As a Sports Ambassador, Hijazi will compete with American teammates in the soccer portion of the Youth Friendship Games in Austria.
Hijazi's personality and talents as a goaltender speak for themselves. The seventh grader has been honing her skill in goal since the tender age of 5, and is a freshly minted member of the Quickstrike Football Club. The premier soccer program was recently awarded membership in the Super Y-League from the United States Soccer Leagues, and is referred to as “the pinnacle of youth soccer leagues” with a direct tie-in to the U.S. Soccer National Team's Olympic Development Program.
Making Quickstrike F.C. was an exciting achievement for Hijazi, a dynamic player who already spends time with Patriots F.C. The phenom has her sights set on playing for a Division I college team, as well as the U.S. National Team. With the Olympics on her mind, Hijazi will be fortunate to get a taste of international competition this summer in Austria.
“We get to stay in the Olympic Village and experience the local culture,” she said. “We have to learn some of the language and we'll be going to dances. And then there is the shopping, which I'm very excited about.”
Hijazi, who has never been to Europe before, showed wide-eyed enthusiasm when it came to learning about new cultures. But, with her incredible talents in the net, she'll probably be doing a little teaching as well.