FEMALE ATHLETE MENTORSHIP (FAM)

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

One of the most positive factors towards girls’ participation in sports is having role models within the women’s sports community. At Strong Girls United Foundation, we’ve realized that mentorship is one of the most powerful aspects of our programming-- it can change our girls’ lives. This is why we’ve created our free one-on-one mentorship program: to give the girls the role models they need to succeed. This program has been designed to pair a strong girl (elementary or middle school aged) with a female collegiate athlete mentor. Through this program, young girls will have the opportunity to cultivate meaningful relationships with strong female role models.

A PROGRAM BUILT ON RESEARCH

There are health, academic, social, achievement, and well-being benefits linked to both physical activity and mindfulness programs.

Girls need more opportunities. There are 1.3 million fewer opportunities for girls to participate in high school sports than boys and by age 14 girls drop out of sport at twice the rate of boys (Sabo & Feliz, 2008)

Young adults who face an opportunity gap but have a mentor are 81% more likely to participate regularly in sports or extracurricular activities than those who do not. (The Mentoring Effect, 2014)

There is an abundance of evidence that suggests social support is integral to well-being and mental health and social support has consistently been linked with cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune functioning (Norrish et al., 2011).

WHAT TO EXPECT:

• Elementary and middle school girls are matched 1:1 with a college or professional female athlete
• Families and the mentor coordinate the time that works for them to meet, virtually, at least twice a month.
• Mentors receive leadership training and coaching support throughout.
• Each session is guided by our research based curriculum that incorporates mindfulness, physical activity, and mental skills training tools.
• We have a research team studying all of our programs and would survey mentee, mentor, and parent/guardians throughout to ensure positive outcomes.

HEAR ABOUT FAM FROM THEIR VOICE:

FAM 2022-2023

FAM is closed for the 2022-2023 season. We will be taking new registrations/applications for next season beginning September 1, 2023. Please sign up below to join our waitlist and to be notified when applications open again. Mentors must be college age or older and current or former female athletes. Mentees must be entering into K-8th grade.