February 1, 2023, is National Girls and Women in Sports Day, which recognizes the accomplishments of female athletes and the importance of participation in sports for women and girls. Being active in sports helps girls develop skills that will last a lifetime and evolve into independent adults. In celebration of this day, the Women’s Foundation of Boston (WFBoston) recognizes our grantee partners who empower girls through sport.
Skills Learned Through Sports Offer a Lifetime of Value
Athletes learn teamwork, hone leadership and communication skills, and build confidence when participating in sports, which often translates to success later in life. The Women’s Foundation of Boston, whose mission is economically empowering women and girls, recognizes that sports foster the development of life-long skills. The Foundation partners with grantees Strong Girls United Foundation, Girls on the Run Greater Boston, Girls on the Run Worcester, and Dream Big! because these organizations offer athletic programming to girls in underserved communities and are changing lives through their work.
Opportunities for Girls Has Been an Evolution
Girls didn’t always have the athletic options that they have today. In 1972, Title IX required that female athletes have the right to equal opportunities in sports at any institution that receives federal financial assistance. Since the passage of Title IX, the number of girls participating in sports has grown exponentially, with a 545% increase in the percentage of women playing college sports and a 990% increase in the rate of women playing high school sports.
How Do the Skills Cultivated Through Sports Translate Off the Field?
Involvement in athletics not only benefits mental, social, emotional, and physical health but also improves success in education and employment. According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, participation in sports is associated with improved social, life, personal, occupational, and academic/leadership skills, which translate into positive economic and emotional returns later in life.
Today’s Leaders Were Once Athletes
Many of today’s leaders are perfect examples of taking your skills from the field to the boardroom. A large majority of today’s female business leaders once played a sport. A 2013 survey studying 821 top female executives found that 90% had played a sport at some level while growing up, and the proportion was even higher– 96%–among women in the C-suite. These statistics underscore the importance of getting girls engaged in sports.
Professional Athletes See a Carryover of Lessons Learned
Professional and amateur athletes are the first to acknowledge the life-long skills they gained through sports.
Looking back on her sports career, tennis great Venus Williams shared with Success Magazine how being an athlete taught her meaningful lessons. She said: “You learn everything in sports without even knowing that you’re learning. I’ve learned how to win, how to lose, how to set new goals, how to deal with myself, how to deal with others—all that stuff.”
NFL veteran Justin Forsett stated to Thrive Global, “Nobody becomes a pro athlete without putting in 110 percent every single day. The same goes for business. When you stay focused and hungry, no matter your circumstances, you will win.” Forsett and Williams acknowledge that what they learned on the court and field translated to lives as successful entrepreneurs.
WFBoston Grantee Partners Are Building Life-long Skills Through Sports
Women’s Foundation of Boston grantee partners SG United Foundation (Strong Girls United), Girls on the Run Greater Boston (GOTRGB), Girls on the Run Worcester (GOTRW), and Dream Big! are helping girls succeed by offering initiatives focused on athletics. Although each of these nonprofits has a different mission, they all have the same goal: using sports to empower girls to reach their full potential and cultivating the next generation of female leaders.
Strong Girls United Empowers Girls Physically and Mentally
SG United Foundation (Strong Girls United) works with girls in kindergarten through college and beyond. They help participants gain strength, confidence, and resilience through sport and physical activity, alongside mental health and well-being activities. WFBoston recently awarded Strong Girls United a Catalyst Grant to fund the creation of Next Level FAM a hybrid in-person and virtual program for high school student-athletes. This program features a 10-week curriculum covering leadership, confidence, mental health, and college preparedness, and highlights content created by collegiate and professional female athletes.
Girls on the Run Engages at a Critical Age
Grantee partners Girls on the Run Greater Boston (GOTRGB) and Girls on the Run Worcester (GOTRW) creatively integrate running into a curriculum that inspires girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident. Working with girls grades 3-8, GOTR is about much more than running. GOTR uses a national curriculum that has reached two million girls across the country and is effective at increasing girls’ confidence and competence, as revealed by a large-scale university study. The program makes an impact at a critical age when confidence and physical activity typically decline.
GOTR Is Expanding to Empower More Girls
WFBoston awarded grants to the GOTR Greater Boston and GOTR Worcester programs to help the organizations extend their reach. The funding provided to GOTR Greater Boston will help them build growth outside of the city of Boston, focusing on Gateway Cities such as Lawrence, Lowell, Brockton, Everett, Lynn, and Chelsea, with a goal of serving an additional 360 girls in these cities. GOTR Worcester’s grant will support the entire program in Worcester, which serves 240 girls. By expanding programming, both organizations can give more girls the tools they need to succeed in the future.
Big Dreams Are Being Fulfilled
WFBoston grantee partner Dream Big! helps K-12 girls from underserved communities by providing essential athletic equipment and assisting with enrollment and participation fees. WFBoston partnered with Dream Big! to establish a scholarship fund that helps elite Boston high school female athletes enroll at national showcase events where most college recruiting occurs. Since 2010, Dream Big! programs have impacted over 60,000 girls and young women in economically disadvantaged communities. The organization is changing lives one athlete at a time.
Invest in the Leaders of Tomorrow—Donate Today!
Sports have the power to transform a girl’s life. Supporting the Women’s Foundation of Boston helps provide much-needed funding for grantee partners like SG United Foundation, Girls on the Run Greater Boston, Girls on the Run Worcester, and Dream Big!, who are empowering today’s young female athletes to become tomorrow’s economically independent leaders. Invest in the future of girls by donating today.
Linda Henry is the CEO of the Boston Globe Media Partners. She is a co-founder of HUBweek, a civic collaboration between the Boston Globe, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, and MIT that explores the future being built at the intersection of art, science and technology. Linda is also an early-stage impact investor, an Emmy-Award winning television producer with two shows currently airing, and a community activist. She serves as a director of the Red Sox Foundation, is a trustee of the Liverpool Football Club Foundation, chair of the Boston Globe Foundation, and chairman of the John W. Henry Family Foundation. In addition, she is a founder of the Boston Public Market, serves on the advisory board of MassChallenge, and is on the board of the Engine at MIT. She earned a BS from Babson College and her MS from MIT.
Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, was named President and CEO of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 2016. She is also Director of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and the Richard and Susan Smith Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Previously, she was the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean and Professor of Medicine of Weill Cornell Medicine and Provost for Medical Affairs of Cornell University. Dr. Glimcher is a distinguished immunologist, widely renowned for her work in one of the most promising areas of cancer research.
Bekah Salwasser joined the Red Sox Foundation as the Executive Director in January of 2018. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from Brown University and has extensive experience in philanthropy and both professional and semi-professional sports. After four years working as Community Relations Director for the Boston Celtics, Bekah went on to lead Scholar Athletes as its Executive Director, a program that supports public high school athletes with both their athletic and academic achievements. Earlier in her career, Bekah served as a professional soccer player for the Boston Breakers and as Executive Director of the Charlestown Lacrosse and Learning Center.
Kimberly Fay Boucher is a business executive who has driven high performance organizations in technology, consumer products and social enterprise/nonprofit industries over the past 25 years. She is currently the Technology Commercialization Business Leader for the CTO at Analog Devices, where she is responsible for driving new technologies from incubation stages to successful businesses. Kim is also a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where she teaches Disciplined Entrepreneurship in the Martin Trust Center. She holds a BS in Management Industrial Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is a NCAA Academic All-American Women’s Basketball player and has been inducted into the WPI Hall of Fame.
Ami Kuan Danoff (Co-Founder and CFO) is a private investor and the trustee of a foundation. She is a Harvard Quantum Founder and a member of the Harvard FAS Dean’s Council. Ami earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in Visual and Environmental Studies and holds a dual master’s degree in Applied Economics and International Finance from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. She was a portfolio manager in global equities at Putnam Investments and co-manager of the Putnam International New Opportunities Fund, and also worked as an international equities analyst at Fidelity Investments.
Christina Heenan Suh holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in English and Marketing and a master’s from Columbia University. A former management consultant, her work focused on strategy and implementation projects for Fortune 100 clients. She was also an account executive at Hill+Knowlton (WPP) marketing consumer packaged goods. As an Executive Board Member of the Brookline Education Foundation, which funds professional development in the Brookline Public Schools, Christina led their Grant and Oversight Committees. She currently sits on the board of the Brookline Library Foundation and teaches ESL at Rosie’s Place in Boston.
Christina Gordon (Co-Founder and CEO) holds a dual master’s degree in International Finance and Applied Economics from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Boston University and also studied for a joint master’s degree in Women’s Studies and Sociology at Brandeis with a focus on women in the workplace. Christina is a former assistant fund manager and technology industry equity analyst at Wellington Management. She also worked as a stock analyst at Fidelity Investments. She is a trustee of a private foundation, a member of Women Moving Millions and currently sits on the board of Rosie’s Place, a sanctuary for poor and homeless women in Boston.