Girls, Inc. Orange County: They sure are strong, smart and bold

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of meeting with 30 or 40 girls ages 5 to 11 at Girls, Inc. of Orange County. What I had planned was to show them the video of the 2004 US Olympic Trials steeplechase, talk about believing in yourself and dealing with adversity (as related to the stories of different women in the race) and then take them into a larger room with mats to do some core exercises and sprint drills and even a game or two.

My biggest fear was that I wouldn't be able to get them to talk and participate in the discussion after the video. I didn't want them to be bored or uninterested. And as for the exercise activity, did I have too much planned or not enough? So yes, I was a bit nervous. 

Before starting the video, I asked if any of the girls knew what the steeplechase is. One girl raised her hand eagerly but then said, "Ummm...I forgot." Then more hands popped up and I realized I was NOT going to have a problem getting this group to talk! They all wanted to guess:

"It's like football!"

"No."

"Baseball?"

"No, remember this is a track & field meet."

"Does it give you energy?"

"No not really..."

"Does it take energy away?"

"Well yes, but what do you do in the race?"

Finally, "Do you jump over those thing-a-ma-bobs?"

"Yes! You jump over thing-a-ma-bobs called barriers. And one of them has water after it, so you run through water too."

"Oooooooooh....is it on grass?"

"No, it's on the track remember? OK, let's just watch the video so you can see for yourself."

I think they were disappointed - they wanted to keep guessing! I was amazed at their enthusiasm and curiosity. We popped in the DVD and hit play. Oh boy, ten minutes of distance race, I hope they don't get bored!

The race started and I pointed out who I was. Then came the first water jump, the one Briana Shook accidentally missed...would they notice? They did! They turned and looked at me and started talking about it. The teachers had to quiet them down. These girls didn't miss a thing.

When the video was over, we talked about Shook and how she handled the mistake she made - instead of quitting, she kept running and showed that even though she was disqualified from the race, she was still the best steepler out there. We talked about Kassi Anderson breaking her ankle on the last water jump - which they all noticed - and how she finished the race anyway. We talked about how I barely qualified for the race but ended up winning and how a big reason was the fact that I believed in myself.

We also talked about the fact that the steeplechase was not an event for women in the Olympics in 2004 (It was just added for the 2008 Olympics for the first time). I asked them, "Has anyone ever told you that you can't do something because you're a girl?"

I had so many responses, I had to finally cut off the conversation so we could go do the physical activity. They all wanted to tell me stories about boys who said they couldn't score in soccer because they're a girl, couldn't play kick ball because they're a girl, couldn't run fast, and so on. What I loved about the stories is that many of them told me how they proved the boys wrong.

"This one boy, he said, 'You can't score on me because you're just a girl,'....and then I scored on him twice."

"They said we couldn't play kickball because we're girls. They said, 'Girls don't play sports,' and so we played them and we won."

I got so excited about these stories and was praising them for believing in themselves, so more of them wanted to tell me the same stories. It was awesome! These girls already had it, what do they need me for??

I told them, "I have a baby. She's almost nine months old. She has a friend her age who is a boy. Right now, she's bigger and stronger and louder than he is. When will she become weaker and more shy?"

They had some guesses, "High school? 8th grade? Age 7?" I said, "No. When someone tells her she's weaker and she believes them. No one can make you feel inferior without your permission."

Sure, there are physical differences between men and women. But the way our society is structured, those differences are exaggerated and girls and women believe they have certain limitations when in fact their potential is much greater than they know. We all just have to believe it.

The physical activity was the best part. After getting a feel for the group, I realized that they were competitive and not afraid to be tested. So I decided we were going to have three competitions: Strongest Abs, Strongest Arms and Strongest Legs.

Strongest Abs was first. I had them all get down on their belly looking up at me. Then I had them push their body up so they were supported by their forearms and toes, with their body in a straight line. This is called a forearm plank. The majority of them held this pose for at least thirty seconds, which is pretty good! If their knees touched the ground or their butt went up in the air, they had to get off the mat. Soon, five girls were left. They were shaking and really trying hard to stay in the game! To make it harder, I had them lift one leg. We lost three and were down to two. One of the girls was the smallest one there but was so tough. I had them raise an arm in addition to the leg and we lost the little girl, so the older one won that competition. 

Then we did Strongest Arms....which meant pushups of course! The first question I got was, "Can we do girlie pushups?"

"WHAT is a 'girlie' pushup??" I said, as if I'd never heard that before.

"It's when you put your knees on the ground."

"Why is that called a 'girlie' pushup? It sounds like a WRONG pushup."

"Because they think we're weak and can't do real ones," said one very smart little girl.

"That's right. But it's not a girlie pushup, it's a wrong pushup, and no, you can't do them!" I got some groans but they all agreed.

I told them, "Your nose has to touch the mat every time or you're out. No knees on the ground or you're out. And keep your butt down."

Almost all of them did 10 pushups - again, not bad at all! You should have seen these girls trying to stay in the competition. Shaking, arms pushing up unevenly because they were so tired, heads up and then down, yelling, making faces, the works! I got such a kick out of it. The winner was the little girl who got second in the Strongest Abs competition...she did thirty pushups!!

Finally, we did Strongest Legs. I had them all sit against the wall as if they were in an invisible chair. I started my watch. Many held on for a few minutes but they were all yelling the whole time! "Owwww this hurts!" "I'm shaking!" They were leaning forward and inching up the wall, so I had to really regulate. They wanted to stay in the game so bad. I loved the determination on their faces. 

By the time we got past 10 minutes, we had two girls left. 10 minutes! That's a long time! These two just happened to be across the room from each other, so they could stare each other down. At 10 minutes, they were already shaking and still yelling and making faces. One of them kept doing meditation gestures and saying "Ohhmmm," or she would yell, "This hurts so bad but I don't CARE, I'm not giving UP!" I just wanted to grab her and give her a huge hug for being so cool. The other one was quieter but was so determined. She kept looking over at me and I would tell her to hold on, she was doing great. Then she'd clench her jaw and look down. You could tell it was really hard.

The minutes ticked by and I honestly wondered if either of them would ever give up. I didn't have any way to make it more difficult to speed it up, so we just had to wait. The rest of the girls were starting cheers for both of the competitors and doing cartwheels on the mat and running up and asking me if we could do Strongest Back next or Fastest Girl. I hated to tell them we didn't have time. 

Both of the girls made it past 20 minutes. Finally one of them fell to the ground. All of the other girls ran over to the winner and piled on top of her. I ran over to the other one and gave her a big hug. She was crying because her legs hurt so bad! I told her how proud I was that she was so tough even though it was really hard. She was pretty upset she hadn't won.

I went over to the winner and gave her the prize - a Steeplechics hat. A few minutes later she went over to the other girl and hugged her and gave her the hat. I was so impressed with the thoughtfulness. She couldn't have been older than nine and she was already more mature than many adults.

It was time to go home. Many of them wanted autographs first. We took a group picture, though many of the girls had to leave because their rides had been waiting. I could barely breathe because two of the girls were hugging me so hard! You can see the winner in the Steeplechics hat (before she gave it to the other girl).

They presented me with a present - a Girls Inc travel coffee mug and t-shirt, which I will wear proudly.

The whole experience made me really look forward to my own daughter growing up to be strong, smart and bold like these girls. Girls, Inc. is doing an incredible job harnessing the energy and enthusiasm of young girls and encouraging them to be just as assertive into adulthood.

To see if there is a Girls Inc near you, check out http://www.girlsinc.org/ or follow them on Twitter at @girls_inc or Facebook.

For Girls Inc of Orange County, check out http://www.girlsinc-oc.org/ or follow them on Twitter at @GirlsIncOC or Facebook.

Thanks to the girls and teachers at Girls Inc Orange County for having me, and I hope to come back and see you in the future! 

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• Track & Field, Sports, SportsPLUS, Family/Parenting, Inspiration, Youth, Student-Athlete, Cause/Charity

There are 4 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

JeffCaronNBB

Ann, this is great! Sounds like you're creating some warriors out there. Keep it up!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 1:21pm PST

anngaff

Thanks Jeff! It was so fun, and it looks like I'm going to start going back regularly to do some fitness activities with them. Can't wait!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 1:26pm PST

WomenUndefined

This is so awesome, thank you!

Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 2:48pm PST

anngaff

You're welcome, thank you! There is nothing more inspiring than energetic and confident young girls. Makes me excited for our future.

Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 11:01pm PST