When Abdelali Alaoui left Casablanca, Morocco aboard a Royal Air Maroc flight headed to New York in the spring of 1995, he was a young man full of big dreams and solid ambition. He set his sights on becoming a Major League Soccer player in the United States.

Abdelali Alaoui

With a few dollars in his pocket and a smattering of English under his belt, his dreams were deferred by the harsh reality that many immigrants face when they come to the United States. “My sisters were still young, my mother a widow,” explained Alaoui, now a 35-year-old father of two and owner of The Soccer Learning Center, a private soccer academy in Jersey City, New Jersey where he is best known by the name “Coach Alex.” “I ended up working in a restaurant in New York City and sending money home to support my family,” he said. “There really was no time left to think about soccer,” he added.
But in 1997, all that changed when he met his future wife, Melinda Vickerman, now a freelance writer. “When I met Alex, he was working in the clothing business. I saw he had a different kind of fire inside of him so I asked him about the work that made his heart sing,” she explained. “He said he loved soccer so I told him to focus upon his passion and that success would surely follow,” she added.

With her encouragement, Alaoui studied intensely and rose quickly through the United States Soccer Federation’s licensing coaching school. He now holds a USSF B license, one step away from the highest soccer coaching accreditation available in the United States, the USSF A license, a distinction he is set to achieve later this year. And when Alaoui saw that the youth in his New Jersey community did not have access to professionally-coached soccer instruction, he began a small indoor class for young children. What started as a group of ten students in 2002 has now grown to become the largest professionally coached indoor private soccer academy in the area for both children and adults.

It was Alaoui’s coaching achievements and volunteer work with the community that inspired Jersey City Mayor, Jerramiah Healy, to honor him in January with an official Proclamation while raising the Moroccan flag over City Hall for the first time in the state’s history.

At a recent meeting with city officials, Alaoui suggested raising the Moroccan flag over the Jersey City City Hall to recognize the contributions of Moroccans throughout the region. Many of the quarter-million people who reside in Jersey City are of Arab descent, including a community of Moroccan born citizens. Alaoui, his wife, and city officials worked together to bring the idea to reality.

During the ceremony, Alaoui graciously accepted the Proclamation from Jersey City’s mayor who warmly regarded the soccer coach as “Jersey City’s ambassador to Morocco and Morocco’s ambassador to Jersey City.” The mayor mentioned several of Alaoui’s notable charitable contributions to the community including a recent event where the coach collected 300 soccer balls to be distributed to needy children in Iraq. Other notable Moroccans who were hailed at the event included Aicha Afifi, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Kingdom of Morocco; Driss Kassimi, Minister Plenipotentiary; Mohamed Karmoune, Consul General of Morocco; Hassan Samrhouni, founder of the influential Washington Morocco Club; and Mustapha Saout, head of MoroccoBoard.com.

For Alaoui, it was a moment of intense pride to see his country’s flag flown next to the flag of the United States. “When I saw the red and green of Morocco next to the red, white, and blue of America, it was like seeing the best of both worlds,” said Alaoui. “I live in the United States now, but my heart will always remain rooted in Morocco,” he added.

Alaoui is still full of dreams, but this time, they go beyond his original hopes of playing soccer. Now he is trying to inspire a new generation of children in a growing American city where there simply aren’t enough soccer fields to fill the demand – or government funding to build them. “We live in an area where 75 different languages are spoken in our schools — that diversity is exactly what makes soccer the most popular sport in the world,” explained Alaoui. “Our children deserve safe and available fields and an opportunity to play what Pele accurately called, the beautiful game,” he added.

Alaoui’s next bold vision is to raise enough money to open a state-of-the-art indoor soccer training facility — a first in the county’s history. “I want to continue my programs for children and adults, and also begin new initiatives for the disabled so they too can experience the thrill of soccer,” he explained. But the slumping American economy may put his plans on hold. Alaoui, however, remains hopeful. “Everything is possible with good faith,” said the coach looking confidently toward the future. “Impossible is simply not in my dictionary.”