Super Saturday with Girls Inc: Perseverance, Believing in Yourself and Girly Pushups

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Last Saturday in Indianapolis, I was honored to cap off Girls Inc of Greater Indianapolis' Super Saturday with Super Girls with some lessons about perseverance, believing in yourself and, that's right, girly pushups.

How do you entertain 100 girls ranging from age 8 to 15 for 45 minutes? It's easier than you think...and a lot of fun.

First off, I hooked up my laptop to the projector screen they had set up in the Legends room at Conseco Fieldhouse. When the girls came in and got seated, I popped in the DVD of the 2004 Olympic Trials Women's Steeplechase...no, not to show off because I won that race...to discuss the athletes in the race facing barriers, literally and figuratively, and overcoming them.

Barrier #1: Brianna Shook's big "oops."

For those of you that know about this race, this is probably the first thing that comes to mind. Shook, who had just graduated from the University of Toledo that spring, was known not only as being the best female steepler in the country but also for her front-running tactics. This race was no different, as she shot way out in front of the rest of us. I remember following her, leading the rest of the field as we started our first full lap of barriers after running on plain track for the first 200+ meters. As I stared at her shoulders coming up on the first water jump, something crazy happened...she didn't veer left towards the water jump. She stayed in lane one and bypassed it! Luckily, I resisted the urge to "follow the leader" and veered left to jump the pit. The rest of the field followed.

This mistake was not lost on the Girls Inc girls. "Why did she do that? Did she cheat?" they asked immediately. "Nope, it was an accident," I said. "We are supposed to run by it the first time, and she got confused as to whether this was the first or second time. But what did she do?" "She kept running!" they yelled. "Exactly. She didn't quit. What would you have done?" I asked. "I would have gone back and jumped it!" Great answer. "I would have passed out by now." Hilarious answer.

At the end of the race, I said "See how far ahead she is of the rest of us? Do you think she would have won even if she hadn't skipped that water jump?" "YES she just wouldn't have won by as much!" they said. "Exactly. And guess what? She ran again 17 days later and ran even FASTER and didn't miss one barrier! She ran 10 seconds faster than I did at the Trials!" "Oooooooh," they said in appreciation.

Barrier #2: Kassie Anderson sprains her ankle

The girls also didn't miss the fact that Kassie Anderson turned her ankle on the final water jump. They could see it on the video, but it was for a split second, so I knew they were paying close attention...what a great group! "What happened after she turned her ankle?" I asked. "She kept running!!" they exclaimed. "Yes she did and she placed second, that's pretty good with or without a sprained ankle, right?" They nodded, very seriously.

Barrier #3: I was the underdog

"Hey you're winning!" one girl yelled out as I rounded the 3rd-to-last turn. "Yup, I am, because Brianna is going to be disqualified. Guess what I was ranked coming into the race?" "4th? 2nd? 1st?" they asked. "LAST," I said. "I just barely made the cut. No one thought I would do much better than 5th if I had a good day. But you know what? I knew better, and that's all that mattered."

"So what did we learn from this race? It's not your mistakes, it's how you deal with them, never ever give up, and believe in yourself!"

Part two was the Strong, Smart and Bold Game Show. The Girls Inc motto is "Inspiring all girls to be strong, smart and bold." So Steph and I divided the game show into three rounds: Strong, Smart and Bold.

For the Strong Round, I had one contestant from each team come up and do some exercises. First, I had them see who could hold the plank position the longest. Then I had them hold the superwoman position until there was one girl left. Finally, I said, "One at a time, I want you to do 5 GIRLY pushups." The first two girls that went got down on the floor and, as expected, did 5 pushups with their knees touching the ground. Then the 8-year-old contestant surprised me by crossing her feet at her ankles and doing 5 very good "regular" pushups! But Steph and I still had a trick left in our book.

"Ladies, that was good but Steph and I will now show you what REAL girly pushups are...Steph you ready?"

Steph and I got down on the floor and did marine-style pushups, with a hand-clap in between.

"Those are girly pushups, don't you ever forget it!" I yelled as the girls erupted in laughter and cheers.

What a great group this was!!! For the bold round, I had each contestant shout what she wanted to be when she grew up. Then we awarded the winner based on the amount of applause each contestant got from the group. The girl who won wanted to be a fashion designer and she knew how to say it BOLDLY and get the girls EXCITED! "I'm gonna be the best FASHION DESIGNER in the WORLD!!" She won easily.

The only place we have work to do is in that Smart round. These girls are plenty smart, don't get me wrong. The problem was, I asked trivia questions about female basketball players and hardly any of them got them right. This is why we have to continue to push to cover women's sports! The next generation needs positive female role models, and I believe female athletes can fulfill that role better than almost anyone else.

Thank you to Girls Inc of Indy for letting me come and work with the girls. Also, thank you for all you do for the youth in Indianapolis and the surrounding areas. For those of you reading, check out the Girls Inc website to see if there is a local chapter near you and get involved with a fantastic organization. The next generation needs YOU.

View anngaff's Profile

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This post is related to events on our Calendar:

• Final Four
• Super Saturday with Super Girls
• Stop.Shoot.Give.

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There is 1 comment on this post. Join the discussion!

stephaniemp says:

I CANNOT wait to see that "bold" girl become the fiercest fashion designer out there!

Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 7:43pm EDT

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