This year marks the 32nd Annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day. It is a day to celebrate the extraordinary achievements in girls’ and women’s sports and the positive influence athletics participation brings to their lives. The day recognizes the ongoing effort towards equality and access for women in sports and the nation’s commitment to expand sport and participation opportunities for all girls and future generations.
This year’s theme is Play Fair, Play IX. Title IX ensures that students receive educational opportunities free from discrimination based on sex. It’s a short and simple law, but it has truly changed the game for girls and women in sports. Although Title IX has expanded opportunities for female athletes, many schools across the country still don’t provide equal opportunities for girls to participate in sports.
In 2018, we are celebrating the importance of fair play, building awareness about Title IX and working together toward its promise of equal opportunity in sports. Here at ICEF Rugby, we honor that commitment to the girls in our community in South Los Angeles and celebrate it on National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
ICEF Rugby is a leadership, team-building and character development program. It is a recognized community based organization that has created and expanded the program that serve a predominately African American community. One of the main goals of ICEF Rugby is to increase participation and retention of African-American girls in rugby. The benefits of rugby on young women are tremendous: increased confidence and higher self-esteem, a more positive body image, better overall physical health and lower rates of obesity, better grades in school, a higher graduation rate and a greater likelihood to attend college. ICEF Rugby also provides leadership training experience for girls.
The ICEF Rugby High School Mentoring Program involves our high school intern coaches mentoring students from our ICEF Public Schools elementary and middle schools. ICEF Public Schools is a charter federation comprising five elementary schools, four middle schools and one high school. Girls in fifth and sixth grade develop skills in flag rugby, while students in seventh and eighth grade learn tackle rugby. High school students deliver standards-based coaching plans focusing on development of leadership and character building on a weekly basis.
We caught up with four current ICEF Rugby seniors to discuss the impact they believe they are making throughout the eight-week program. The four girls currently play in the Los Angeles High School League, will represent at Las Vegas Sevens and will travel to Hong Kong and the Philippines as part of a their international tour this year. Three of the four girls were recently invited to attend the High School All American camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista too.
First up, Sarah Wells, our View Park Varsity captain explained that she has had the privilege to intern coach for the past two seasons. She is keen to create a legacy in South Los Angeles through coaching and goes on to say that it has “inspired me to continue working with children and eventually return in the future to pass on what she learned to others.” She also discusses the challenges involved with coaching and managing the “different personalities of the girls and how they all they learn the game differently.” She explains that she sees the positive impact that the program is having on the community and how “the girls have a role model they can look up to and aspire to be like.”
India Horns explains how the program has helped her develop her own patience. She originally “struggled to get the girls to focus” and quickly learned that “timely, fun and active sessions are the key to keeping the girls engaged.” Her inspiration came through the coaching of a middle school girl named Melia. She feels inspired when she sees girls persevere and develop self confidence.
Ryanne Payne has been coaching since the ninth grade and explains that “it has been a wonderful experience to share her love of the extraordinary game of rugby.” She outlines some of the challenges she faces with “managing timings with and the order of sessions” and delivering quality sessions with “an engaging and fun approach.” She goes on to say that she sees growth in all the girls she coaches on a weekly basis and feels that she is making an impact “by ensuring her girls learn and give them an experience that will remain with them forever.”
Marijah Pruitt describes coaching as “a great pleasure and honor”. She outlines how gratifying it can be to coach. “They listen and learn pretty quickly and it’s always a pleasure to see them learning and developing”. She has been challenged with how best to motivate players to complete drills, improve ball handling, while preparing for games.” She observed that it is also challenging to “instill the same passion that I have for the sport to others”. She outlined that the coaching plans and timings have assisted with her organization of sessions. Furthermore, she feels that the impact she is making is a positive one and encourages the girls “to take the lead and help the ones around them when it is needed.”
This week, in celebration of National Girls and Women is Sports Day and as part of our eight week ICEF Rugby High School Mentoring Program, ICEF Rugby welcomed two very special guests to help recognize all the wonderful achievements of all our girls involved. Those special guests were Shuron Lincoln-Owens (Senior Director of Academics) and Phaidra Knight (World Rugby Hall of Famer and NBC Analyst).
Phaidra Knight shared her thoughts from the day. “I was so impressed by the ICEF Rugby program during my visit on National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The girls and boys were disciplined in their interactions during both their bus rides and time playing rugby. The instruction from coaches to players was very positively received. It was clear that there was a tremendous amount of respect and admiration, and the kids had so much fun. The day left me quite inspired.”
Additionally, Shuron Lincoln-Owens (Senior Director of Academics) remarked that “it was inspiring to see our View Park High School students developing leadership skills through the Mentoring Program. They are wonderful examples of what an ICEF scholar should be.”
Lisa Finegan (Director of Physical Education) explained that “It is truly wonderful to see the growth of our high school girls, developing into confident and assertive leaders. They are focused and driven to be the best they can be. They set the bar for future leaders of the program. We are proud of them.”
Finally, Director of ICEF Rugby Stuart Krohn concluded that “Wednesday rugby at ICEF during the season is my favorite day. Over 100 kids grades 5th-12th running around together, getting exercise, learning to work as a team, mentoring each other, girls and boys learning mutual respect as they see each other learning the great, fun and challenging game of rugby. What is better than that?”
ICEF #PhaidraKnight #GirlsandWomeninSportsDay