Pictured #1 Billie Jean King #2 Billie Jean King #3 Dominique Dawes #4 Merri Dee. #5 Athletes, sponsors, supporters and board members of the Women's Sports Foundation at the GoGirlGo! launch. Photos by Tracy Baim
The Women's Sports Foundation ( WSF ) last week launched a three-year campaign to get 100,000 Chicago girls active and to prevent another already active 100,000 girls from dropping out of physical activities. The Chicago initiative is part of WSF's national GoGirlGo! campaign to get one million American girls moving. The initiative promotes sports and other physical activities for girls, not only to improve their health, but also to boost their self-esteem and confidence, which will ultimately contribute to their success as adult women.
WSF, founded by tennis legend Billie Jean King in 1974, has conducted extensive research on the impact of physical activity on the physical and psychological well being of girls. Their research has highlighted an alarming decrease in regular physical activity among girls over the last three decades.
As American youth in general, and girls in particular, become more sedentary, instances of obesity, heart disease, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, depression, and eating disorders are on the rise. WSF reports that in 1974, only one girl out of 21 was obese or overweight, and today that figure has risen to a disturbing one in six.
Though lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women, the WSF has found that one in three girls in high school smoke cigarettes. WSF also reports one in three adolescent girls experience depression, anxiety, or eating disorders.
While the health problems perpetuated by sedentary lifestyles undoubtedly have detrimental consequences for the individual lives of girls and women, they also result in an estimated one trillion dollars in healthcare treatment costs. 'Physical activity is a fundamental intervention to keep girls healthy,' said Dominique Dawes, WSF President and Olympic gymnast.
WSF believes that physical activity is the key to reversing negative health trends, especially for young girls who tend to be disproportionately sedentary due to lack of encouragement to succeed as athletes and the relative unavailability of sports programs for girls in schools and communities. The access to physical activity is even further limited in socioeconomically underprivileged communities, where costs to participate in sports programs and transportation to sports facilities may present additional deterrents to involvement. Billie Jean King noted that she first discovered her love of and talent for the game of tennis because of a free group lesson in her community. She emphasized that were it not for the availability of that program, she likely would not have gone on to achieve the great successes she has as an athlete. Commenting on the role of sports in the lives of young people, she said, 'It's preventative medicine.'
The GoGirlGo! campaign was initially conceived from the belief that if girls are encouraged to participate in sports and if programs are made available to them, they will get active or stay active. The organizers hope that regular physical activity will not only create healthy women, but also women who are confident and better positioned to greet the challenges of adult life. Dawes emphasized, 'We want to show them that they are strong. We want to show them that they are capable. We want to show them that they are deserving.'
To accomplish their goals of getting Chicago girls moving, WSF will pursue a multi-faceted strategy that combines raising public awareness, providing resources to schools and communities, and creating a coalition of girl-serving organizations. WSF has secured the Chicago Foundation for Women ( CFW ) , a Chicago institution that provides grants annually to fund programs for women and girls, as their grant-making partner. Isabel Carter Stewart, CFW Executive Director, said, 'We welcome the challenge you make to create social change.' She explained that CFW is committed to investing in Chicago girls' physical and mental health because, as she half-jokingly noted, 'Girls are the best source—known to date—of women.'
WSF and CFW have together committed $500,000 in cash grants to be awarded to local girl-serving agencies that provide physical activity programs. The public awareness campaign will focus on the need to encourage inactive girls to get involved in some sort of regular physical activity—from competitive team sports to dance, yoga, and skateboarding. Active women and girls will be asked to sponsor one inactive girl in their lives, pledging to help her get active. The initiative will also include the issuance of a Chicago 'report card' on the state of girls' physical activity and health to promote public awareness. Based of WSF's comprehensive survey, Chicago girls trended above national averages for obesity levels, sedentary lifestyles, and poor nutrition. Interestingly, though, instances of binge drinking and cigarette smoking were lower in Chicago than they tend to be nationwide.
Seeking to bring together the entire community in their efforts to get Chicago girls moving, WSF and CFW have assembled an impressive group of sponsors and Chicago leaders who will serve as spokespersons for the program. Blair Hull, whose Hull Family Foundation is one of the key Chicago sponsors, commented, 'It is the hope of the Hull Family that GoGirlGo! will create social and gender equity in both policy and practice.'
Gatorade and Wrigley have signed on as sponsors, and both will provide athletic scholarships for Chicago girls as part of the initiative. Official GoGirlGo! Chicago spokespeople include Billie Jean King; Merri Dee, WGN-TV Public Service Director; Rep. Luis Gutierrez; Megan Mawicke, CBS Sports Reporter; and Juanita Jordan, Vice Chair of the M and J Endowment Fund.
'I want young women to love themselves,' said Dee of her motivation to be involved with this program. She then called Chicago women to action: 'We need to spread our wings, ladies—all over Chicagoland.' In addition the local leaders, a roster of accomplished athletes, including Cheryl Lynn Gudinas, Pam Schaffrath, Sarah Tueting, Bridget Venturi Veenema, Willye White, and Hillary Wolf, will also serve as spokespeople.
GoGirlGo! Chicago is officially under way, and will hopefully result in hundreds of thousands healthier and happier Chicago girls. For information on how you or your organization can join in the campaign to get girls moving, visit www.WomensSportsFoundation.org or see www.cfw.org .
