Read about some of the Foundation's success stories.
By Christine Szudzik
The Women's Sports Foundation is committed to advancing the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity. Achieving this mission hasn't been a simple task. High school girls receive 1.25 million fewer opportunities to play sports. And when these girls grow up, many of them lack the desire and motivation to stay active.
But through our research, programs and services, the tide is turning.
Our GoGirlGo! grant and curriculum program was founded five years ago with the goal of getting one million sedentary girls active. We send free educational curriculum kits emphasizing the importance of physical activity to girl-serving organizations nationwide. Sydelcis Mendez attends Power Play, an after-school program based in New York City that uses the GoGirlGo! curriculum.
“Two years ago, I never thought of myself as an athlete,” she said. “I never had the opportunity to learn how to play. Now, I cannot even pick a favorite sport because I enjoy playing them all.”
While GoGirlGo! helps girls like Mendez gain the confidence to play sports, we know that their mothers and grandmothers need encouragement as well. Through our RYKÄ Women's Fitness Grant, we provide financial support to fitness programs that benefit women ages 25 and older.
The Northwest Jersey Community Action Program runs Project Healthy Bones, an education and exercise program designed to prevent osteoporosis in senior women. Joan Cleffi was diagnosed with a precursor of osteoporosis in 2001, but with the help of Project Healthy Bones, it wasn't a death sentence.
“I joined the program two years ago, learned a lot about nutrition and faithfully did the new exercises,” Cleffi said. “In August, I went back for another bone density test. I was thrilled when it showed 'statistically significant improvement' in both my hips and spine.” Cleffi's condition has improved, and she no longer has to take any osteoporosis medication.
Despite the fact that sports can do so much good, many girls and women still have to fight for the right to play. We answer thousands of requests for help and information, many from concerned parents whose daughters don't receive the same resources, treatment and benefits that their sons do.
Tony Mulieri's daughter Millie is a great kid. The fifth grader was the only girl on her baseball and soccer teams, but she didn't mind. In fact, she enjoyed seeing people's reactions change from, “Oh, how cute,” to “Somebody cover that blasted girl!” But Millie was dismayed when she noticed the boys got to do a lot more fun stuff in gym class.
“While the boys got to play basketball, we were just doing basketball skills,” Millie said. “The boys got to play football. We had to do an indoor activity. We almost never did activities together.”
Millie told her dad what was going on, and Tony Mulieri knew it wasn't right.
“I repeatedly talked to school officials, but they blew me off,” he said. “I searched the Internet and contacted about five different organizations for advice. None of them took me seriously. Then I sent an e-mail to the Women's Sports Foundation.”
Our advocacy department responded to Tony and provided him with a step-by-step guide to confronting his school district. Soon, all the gym classes in his district were integrated, and Millie discovered that she's pretty good at basketball, too.
Every success story only motivates us to achieve more. We have much work to do before girls and women of all ages are able to experience and enjoy sports with no barriers to their participation. But with the help of dedicated staff and supporters, we are well on our way.