Women's Sports Foundation

The Women's Sports Foundation leads the movement for equal play in sports.  We get girls active, build physically and emotionally healthy lives, fight discrimination and give voices to women athletes.

Why do we exist?

Simply stated, we exist because her life depends on it. 

The Women’s Sports Foundation is the trusted voice of women’s sports and physical activity because our work is anchored on fact-based research and 32 years of experience in the design and execution of award-winning education and public policy programs.  We are the only national organization promoting all sports and physical activities for women of all ages and skill levels and are acknowledged by the media as the expert resource on all women’s sports issues.  Every day we use our voice to improve the experience of any girl or woman who wants to participate in sports and physical activity.

Our vision is a society in which parents understand the benefits of sports and physical activity participation for both their daughters and their sons and equally encourage them to be active and healthy.  Together we want to create a society in which girls and women of all ages fully experience and enjoy sports and physical activity with no barriers to their participation.  Our success depends on people around the world who work with us to help every girl and woman believe that she can be fit, confident and healthy in a body of any size.

In May, 2004, the WSF celebrated its 30^th anniversary by launching GoGirlGo! -- a national initiative to get one million girls physically active and to keep another one million girls from dropping out of sports and physical activity.  The program model is community-based to ensure that local girl-serving organizations have the necessary tools to increase girls’ physical activity participation, confront and eliminate risky health behaviors through the educational curriculum and to secure a financial support structure.   Since its inception, more than 625,000 girls have been reached.

What have you accomplished?

GoGirlGo! Success Story

Source: AGAPE Community Center Leader, 2006

Most of the girls who participated in the program had never been physically active on a regular basis nor had they been apart of any “team.” This is especially true of our teen girls.  One participant in particular, Amber, was afraid to try any sports. She was ambivalent about being seen as a leader or as someone with her own opinions and ideas.

She is also a twin who had not developed an identity of her own.  After a few weeks of getting to know the staff and understanding the expectations of the program, she began to engage in the activities with more enthusiasm. Her enthusiasm and willingness to learn were noticed by the other participants. At the end of the 8 week period, Amber expressed an interest in continuing the program and didn’t want to see it end. She was a member of the dance team that performed at the banquet that commemorated the achievements of all the participants.  Playing a sport in school was no longer a big deal and she was considering trying out for a team. Without our program, it would have been difficult for her to “come out of her shell” because honestly, there isn’t another program available anywhere which can produce such positive results in a matter of weeks. She is truly grateful for the program that allowed her to become a part of GoGirlGo!

Each year, hundreds of thousands of girls and women across the country are directly affected by the Foundation.  We want to ensure that all girls have the chance to use sports and physical activity to test their own limits, strengthen their bodies and minds and increase their potential for healthier lives. 

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