Young women tribal hockey players from rural Jharkhand will get an opportunity to showcase their talent in front of a high profile representative of the Donald Trump administration from the US on Saturday.

Marie Royce, US assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, is currently touring India and will be in Ranchi to witness the finale of the week-long women’s field hockey and leadership camp at SERSA Astroturf Stadium in Hatia on Saturday morning.

She will also attend a cultural programme and an awards ceremony at XISS auditorium in Ranchi in the afternoon.

The former businesswoman-educator, who joined the Trump administration in March 2018, is in India to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Fulbright programme to promote studying at US universities.

The field hockey camp under “One win leads to another” campaign is the second such initiative in collaboration with Shakti Vahini, a Delhi-based anti-trafficking NGO and the Ranchi railway division.

Marie Royce

The first camp was held at the same venue last year.

“The camp empowers girls from Jharkhand to prevent human trafficking in their communities through relationship building with law enforcement agencies, digital social messaging and performative storytelling,” a media note issued by US Department of State on January 27 and circulated through the US Consulate in Calcutta stated.

Assistant secretary Royce will meet local entrepreneurs, exchange programme participants and alumni in both New Delhi and Ranchi to discuss their programme experience and impactful work in their communities, the media note added.

The camp at SERSA stadium was inaugurated by Ranchi’s divisional railway manager Neeraj Ambasth on January 27 and is being attended by 107 girls, aged between 12 and 18 years, selected from rural areas of Ranchi, Khunti, Lohardaga, Gumla and Simdega districts.

A team of 15 US hockey players, including head coaches Katharin DeLorenzo and Rachel Palumbo, from Middlebury College, Vermont (USA), is supervising the camp.

Besides training in hockey, the camp is also empowering rural girls by making them aware about violence against girls and women so that they could work towards curbing social evils such as human trafficking.

The girls at the camp, who have been divided into teams, are currently playing practise matches. The best two teams will take on each other at the final match on Saturday.

“Two or three of these girls are likely to be selected for further training in the US,” Rishi Kant of NGO Shakti Vahini said.