Nora, Moroccan Star Who Dropped Horse Racing, Gymnastics And Athletics For Volleyball

She stands at a paltry 169cm high but the height debate, considered the biggest asset in modern volleyball is not a deterrent to the Moroccan libero, Darrhar Nora – one of the upcoming best African liberos who dropped Horse Racing, Athletics and Gymnastics for Volleyball.

Just like most African Volleyballers, Nora was introduced late into the sports but in just under six years, the future star has already earned her first senior national team call up.

“I played my first Volleyball in Jeans pant and leather shoe,” Nora who will be turning 23 on August 21 remembers her journey into the court which begun less than 10 years ago.

“I started Volleyball very late and I never thought that one day I will ever play for the national team,” Sara, told CAVB.ORG after helping Morocco finish sixth above Mauritius and Botswana at the eight nations Africa Nations Championship in Nairobi.

While growing up in Rabat, Morocco, Nora never wanted anything, but to follow in the footsteps of her father, Ahmed Darrhar, a 56 years old professional Horse rider who despite his advanced age, still managed to bag a Silver medal this year at the national professional Horse Racing championship in Morocco. “Am his biggest fan,” Nora now a Volleyball queen reminds me of her close relationship with her father.

Sara who will be graduating with a Masters Degree in Business Administration from St. Andrews University in north Carolina-USA in May, 2016 dropped her first love horse racing then Gymnastics and Athletics to fully take up Volleyball after she was introduced to the sport by her Physical Education teacher seven years ago.

“I used to take part in a lot of sports and one day while going for my Gymnastics lessons, my PE teacher told me ‘I want you in Volleyball’. I dodged her for two months.

She had never thought that one day she will represent her country in Volleyball but that, as fate would have it was the exactly what happened when she was named by Samir Dcahr in their first continental competition after a nine year truancy at the African Nations Championship.

Moroccan libero Darrhar Nora

The multi-talented Volleyball Star who also partners her best friend, Alexandra Arhart in beach Volleyball also tried her hands on Sprint, Long Jump and a Pole-Vault in addition to Gymnastics.

“I have a Bronze medal in Horse Racing back home,” she remembers with abroad smile of her childhood sport.

“Gymnastics is a fast sports and it helped me adapt to my current position even after I was told by one of the coaches that I will never be a good player,” she emotionally narrates her ordeals in the hands of one of the coaches in her early years in the game.

“I was really terrible in defence and I had one coach who told me ‘there is no point of teaching you how to pass (Nora) because you’re terrible at it and you’ll never be good at it anyway’. that was very bad especially coming from someone you look up to.”

While she was happy with the general performance of her team, the player who will be taking part in the Beach Volleyball around the World with her partner and best friend Alexandra added. “that was my first senior year so it’s the hardest in terms of class considering that I had to create time for my classes which I had to take during the tournament in Kenya,”

While she’s happy on the court, off court, the youngster who would want to continue playing Volleyball after her University education is grappling with the idea of finding balance between work and playing.

“I learned that I have only one year left (In USA) and because there is no National league over there, I’ll have to find a solution to be able to play, maybe for two more years at my university then move to France but I would really want to stay and work in the US. It’s not easy making that decision,” added the players who would want to practice sports Management in the US after graduating.

Elvince Joshua

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Wie Finally Wins U.S. Women’s Open 11 Years After First Attempt

Michelle Wie

Sunday’s U.S. Women’s Open victory marks the second win in a USGA championship for Michelle Wie. She won the 2003 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links when she was just 13 years old.

She Started playing Golf at the very tender age of four, and at the age of ten, she became the youngest player ever to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship.

Michelle Wie first attempted to win the U.S. Women’s Open in 2003 at the very young age of 13, but she tied for 39th that year.

In 2004 Wie was awarded the “Laureus World Newcomer of the Year award” and she continued to progress thru the ranks, But Subsequent attempts at winning a major all fell short until this year at the 69th U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club.

The 6ft 1 American Golfer however has her parents to thank for believing in her ever in her own moments of “self doubt”. And Wie has definitely repaid that trust by claiming the prestigious U.S. Women’s Open title.

The 2014 U.S. Women’s Open champion was closely followed by close friend and fellow American, Stacy Lewis, Northern Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow and South Korea’s Amy Yang.

Below is the Leader Board Sourced from usopen.com

Leader Board – Round 4 In Partnership With IBM

* 10th Tee Start | (a) Denotes Amateur Updates every 30 seconds

POS PLAYER TO PAR THRU TODAY RD 1 RD 2 RD 3 RD 4 TOTAL

1 WIE, Michelle -2 F E 68 68 72 70 278

2 LEWIS, Stacy E F -4 67 73 74 66 280

3 MEADOW, Stephanie+1 F -1 71 72 69 69 281

4 YANG, Amy +2 F +4 71 69 68 74 282

T5 LEE, Meena +3 F -2 72 73 70 68 283

T5 RYU, So Yeon +3 F E 69 74 70 70 283

T7 THOMPSON, Lexi +4 F +1 71 68 74 71 284

T7 YOKOMINE, Sakura+4 F +1 74 68 71 71 284

T7 PHATLUM, Pornanong+4 F +1 71 73 69 71 284

T10 MATTHEW, Catriona+5 F -4 75 69 75 66 285

T10 SHIN, Jenny +5 F -2 74 70 73 68 285

T10 HENDERSON, Brooke Mackenzie (a) +5 F -1 71 73 72 69 285

T13 FENG, Yueer Cindy+6 F +1 73 71 71 71 286

T13 CHOI, Na Yeon +6 F +4 71 70 71 74 286

T15 KO, Lydia +7 F -1 76 71 71 69 287

T15 FENG, Shanshan +7 F E 77 70 70 70 287

T15 LINCICOME, Brittany+7 F +1 77 70 69 71 287

T15 PARK, Hee Young +7 F +2 73 73 69 72 287

T15 CREAMER, Paula +7 F +3 70 72 72 73 287

T15 CHOI, Chella +7 F +3 75 70 69 73 287

T15 INKSTER, Juli +7 F +5 71 75 66 75 287

T22 GRANADA, Juliet+8 F -2 75 71 74 68 288

T22 GAL, Sandra +8 F -1 74 72 73 69 288

T22 ICHER, Karine +8 F -1 76 72 71 69 288

T22 MUNOZ, Azahara +8 F E 73 71 74 70 288

T22 LANG, Brittany +8 F +1 73 75 69 71 288

T22 LEE, Minjee (a) +8 F +6 69 71 72 76 288

Michelle Wie