VCMS students Sarah and Sahana have won the opportunity to be “Game Growers” to inspire girls to get involved and stay involved in sports.
The Game Growers competition by Nike is designed to give 7th and 8th-grade girls the opportunity to develop and share their ideas to keep girls involved in sports. The winning Game Growers are then partnered with an NBA or WNBA team to develop their idea.
This is what Sarah and Sahana shared, “We decided to participate because we both play sports and love the ones we play. We researched why girls lose interest in sports, the benefits of participating in them, and things that would make girls our age be more enthusiastic about sports. We brainstormed several ideas not only to help the girls who drop out of sports but also those who are unsure about what sport to play in the first place.
This was our idea: A website that has success stories, forums for girls to connect with each other and share ideas, surveys that help girls decide a sport that best suits them, and references to local clubs that run tryouts. We are very happy to have been selected by the Portland Trail Blazers as co-captains to represent them in the Game Growers program this year. The Blazers shipped us some surprise presents to enjoy!”
Sarah and Sahana learned about their in January and wanted to offer thanks for the support they received, “We feel it is a great honor to help girls our age in finding a sport that really inspires them and motivates them in life. We are so grateful to the people at Nike and Portland Trail Blazers for this program. We also want to thank our principal and Valley Catholic Middle School for the support and encouragement. We look forward to our journey with Game Growers and the Blazers to bring our design to reality.”
