Who says Girl Scouts is just about cookies, camps, and
crafts? Whoever it was certainly forgot about health, fitness, and leadership!
Since the beginning of time—1912, to be exact—Girl Scouts of the USA has placed
special emphasis on the importance of staying active and adopting a healthy
lifestyle full of creative outdoor activities and a balanced diet. After all,
healthy girls are happy girls, and that’s what keeps this great Movement going!
To
further our commitment to building healthy girls—and healthy leaders—Girl Scouts has partnered with
Nestlé to encourage girls to participate in GirlSports, a program that promotes group and individual
sports as an opportunity to gain vital leadership skills. That’s right:
basketball, hiking, camping, and track and field aren’t just ways to stay
active—by engaging in these sports, girls learn how to lead, whether it’s a
team, a group, or their own personal efforts to succeed.
So, we know what
GirlSports is, but how do we plan to
execute this initiative? And how do we ensure girls are in fact developing
leadership skills between the timeouts, foul balls, and finish lines? It’s
simple:
- We offer five Legacy Athlete badges that, upon completion, signify that girls have built skills ranging from good sportsmanship to effective coaching strategies.
- Want to create your own path? That’s what leadership is all about! With our Make Your Own Badge option, you can get behind the wheel and customize your own GirlSports badge. Get creative!
- Stay connected! Girls across the country are taking the lead in their lives through sports and outdoor activities; connect with them! We’ve created a place for girls to share success stories and motivate fellow Girl Scout sisters as they get active.
At Girl Scouts, we’re 2.3 million
girls strong—and are excited to build 2.3 million strong girls!
Why?
Research shows—and by “research,”
we mean first-hand experience with the very girls who make up this Movement—that
getting active through team sports allows girls to break out of their shells
and let their inner stars shine. Just take it from Melissa, a 12-year-old
Cadette who was admittedly shy and quiet whenever it was time to speak up. By
her fifth year in Girl Scouts, she had had countless challenging yet fun
experiences that helped make her more confident and even fearless. And possessing
these skills can help all girls create amazingly bright futures for themselves.
Girls who play sports, even just for fun, make better grades and go to college,
develop greater confidence in their own abilities, and even compete in
male-dominated career positions, among many other advantages.
There are so many reasons to get
involved with GirlSports. What’s your reason? Learn more about this exciting program here
and get started today!
