The chatter of the group of 8- to 10-year-old girls, pent up with afterschool giddiness, reached a decibel level to where volunteer coach Sophie Moeller couldn’t get a word in about cooperation, the theme of the day.
“Yo! Yo! Yo!” she said to the group of Glenshire Elementary students enrolled in Girls on the Run-Sierras, all seated in a circle on the grass on a cloudy April day.
“What’s up!?” the group yelled back in unison, knowing they’d just been asked to be quiet.
Moeller talked about the benefits of working together as a group and helping one another out, weaving in a secondary lesson that one can’t always be as loud and wild as one would like. She then asked if there were questions.
“So…when is the correct time to be wild and crazy?” one of the girls asked in response, bouncing on her heels.
And with that, the talk ended and the group broke into a variety of running drills, lapping the grassy field, screaming, hollering, and running without reserve.
The Program
Established in 1996 in North Carolina, GOTR aims to “inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident, using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running,” according to its mission statement.
“We try to get girls out of the girl box and embrace their true selves,” said Kaylie Arnold, the volunteer and outreach coordinator for the Sierra council. Arnold said as girls make their way through elementary school and junior high, societal and peer pressure become growing influences and can lure girls away from healthy activities such as running.
The Sierra council of GOTR was started in 2007 to combat this trend, and has spread to nine schools in Truckee/Tahoe as of 2015, with 123 girls enrolled for this year’s spring program. The core of the program’s activities are based around running, but the intent is to go well beyond health benefits and provide support as girls navigate the world of adolescence.
“What we see is so much more than physical development; we see all-around improvement throughout school and life participation,” said Danielle Rees, the executive director of the Sierra council.
The groups meet twice a week for 10 weeks, combining discussions and various running exercises. The culmination of the program is a non-competitive 5k run (all girls wear the #1 bib and no official scores are kept), which is open to community members and also serves as a fundraiser to the group. This year’s 5k is slated for June 6 at Truckee Riverview Sports Park.
Rees notes that while Tahoe/Truckee youth are exposed to a wide variety of outdoor opportunities in the Tahoe area, the need is still stronger than some might imagine.
“Over 40 percent of kids in the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District aren’t getting the necessary amount of physical activity, so this goes against the idea that our kids are necessarily getting ample exercise,” said Rees, citing information from the California Healthy Kids Survey.
Growing Program, Growing Needs
Nationally, the organization recently enrolled their one-millionth girl and expanded into Reno in the fall of 2012. GOTR has 15 enrolled schools in Reno with the goal of adding four more per year.
“A lot of the girls in my program come from a lower socioeconomic place and have had a rough path through school. It’s good for them to have that guidance and to build confidence with each other,” said Cari Potter of Truckee, a volunteer coach for GOTR at Dorothy Lemelson STEM Academy in Reno, where she teaches first grade.
To help girls as they get closer to high school, there are plans to roll out GOTR’s Heart & Sole program, geared toward sixth to eighth graders, at Lemelson STEM Academy this coming fall, with plans to expand. This marks the first Heart & Sole program for Reno/Tahoe, and also leads up to a final 5k run.
“It’s challenging for a lot of the girls to build the stamina to run a 5k, as a lot of them aren’t outside very much,” Potter said. “It’s incredible to see them through the program and build that stamina.”
Both Potter’s and Rees’ favorite day of the year is seeing the girls cross the finish line at the 5k race.
“One girl last year had leukemia and after some of the girls finished, they went back on the course to find her to support her through,” Rees said. “The mom was watching and streaming tears of joy.”
To volunteer (moms, dads, and non-parents welcome), learn more about getting involved with Girls on the Run, and sign up for the 5k visit girlsontherunsierras.org.
