Lead the conversation.

Discussion Guides

An array of guides designed to help you facilitate thoughtful discussions around sport participation, body image, equality and equity, diversity, leadership, and more.

Sports 4 Life Girls’ Guide on Confidence

Girls can Play Chicago

The Sports 4 Life initiative founded with espnW, promotes four foundational benefits of girls’ participation: leadership, confidence, self-esteem and perseverance. The Girls’ Guide on Confidence is the second guide in a four-part series, which will explore these pillars.

The guide explores five dimensions of confidence and provides program leaders and girls with discussion starters, as well as individual and team-based exercises to practice their skills.

Sports 4 Life Girls’ Guide on Leadership

Two young girls playing basketball

The Sports 4 Life initiative founded with espnW, promotes four foundational benefits of girls’ participation: leadership, confidence, self-esteem and perseverance. The Girls’ Guide on Leadership is the first guide in a four-part series, which will explore these pillars.

The guide explores five dimensions of leadership and provides program leaders and girls with discussion starters, as well as individual and team-based exercises to practice their skills.

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Film Discussion Guide: Battle of the Sexes

Developed by the Women’s Sports Foundation’s education team, the guide is intended to help facilitate classroom discussions on relevant social issues, past and present, including gender equality, diversity and inclusion, and the landmark legislation, Title IX, as well as others.

Background

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Sexes match won by Billie Jean King in 1973.

In the wake of the sexual revolution and the rise of the women’s movement, the 1973 tennis match between women’s world champion Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and ex-men’s-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) was billed as the BATTLE OF THE SEXES and became one of the most watched televised sports events of all time, reaching 90 million viewers around the world. As the rivalry between King and Riggs kicked into high gear, off-court each was fighting more personal and complex battles. The fiercely private King was not only championing for equality, but also struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality, as her friendship with Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough) developed. And Riggs, one of the first self-made media-age celebrities, wrestled with his gambling demons, at the expense of his family and wife Priscilla (Elisabeth Shue). Together, Billie and Bobby served up a cultural spectacle that resonated far beyond the tennis court, sparking discussions in bedrooms and boardrooms that continue to reverberate today.

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To encourage the use of the film as an education tool, 21st Century Fox and the Women’s Sports Foundation collaborated on the Battle of the Sexes: Film Discussion Guide for classrooms to be released in conjunction with the DVD launch in January of 2018.

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© 2023, Women’s Sports Foundation, All Rights Reserved.

This guide may be downloaded from www.WomensSportsFoundation.org. This guide may be reproduced and distributed only in its entirety. Any material taken from this guide and published or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, must be properly attributed to The Battle of the Sexes: Film Discussion Guide, published by the Women’s Sports Foundation in collaboration with 21st Century Fox.

First Book Discussion Guide: Empowering Girls Through Books and Sports

The Women’s Sports Foundation is thrilled to announce its collaboration with First Book, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing books and educational resources to schools and programs in underserved communities.This partnership will empower girls with stories that ignite their passion for sports and lead to discussion on topics related to their experiences.

The Discussion Guide

At the core of the partnership is a Discussion Guide produced by WSF and First Book. The guide centers around six themes — body image, power, fuel, joy, diversity and leadership — with a goal of empowering and educating girls through books and physical activity. The Discussion Guide was designed to help adults facilitate thoughtful, safe discussions with girls around key topics related to the experiences that young girls have today.

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In the Community

WSF is providing our community partners with a curated collection of books that feature strong and active female leading characters.

WSF believes that all girls deserve equitable opportunities to develop their personal potential through the benefits of sports and physical activity. Partnering with First Book brings exciting new tools to help achieve this goal.

We encourage you to explore the “Empowering Stories about Women & Girls” section of the First Book Marketplace, some of which are included in the curated list we sent to our community partners.