How the Community is
Getting in the Game!
May & June 2008
Give Girls Game
 If
you had walked by the UIC's SEO Field on May 29th around 4pm, you would
have thought Hannah Montana was in town! But, a closer look would have
revealed 600 girls, ages 8-16, gathering to show they "have game",
share a unified message of wanting access to more sports and fitness
opportunities and experience a day of active fun with girls citywide!
This "Fitness Festival", was followed by an energized march to the UIC
Pavillion to get in the game with the Chicago Sky.
With the support of The Sky Cares Foundation, The Chicago Park District, Girls in the Game, Girls on the Run, Mayor's Fitness Council, and the Women's Sports Foundation,
girls from all over Chicagoland participated in fun pregame activities
at UIC's SEO field, visited interactive festival stations, interacted
with female collegiate athletes and corporate women and
enthusiastic chants of "Give Girls Game" were heard throughout the
neighborhood as the large group made their way to the Pavillion.
 AthletiCo Rehabilitation, Fitness, Performance ensured
the safety of the event with a staffed first aid station and kicked off
the festival with an on stage warm up. Members from the Chicago Force Women's Tackle Football team
assisted with the warm up by dividing the 600 girls into squads for the
experience of team exercises Chicago Force style! Girls also tried
kick-boxing and salsa dancing with the Chicago Park District, baseball
with Play for Life International, among many other activities. The
Girls in the Game booth featured jump roping, hula-hooping, and
face-painting. Margaret Stender, CEO of the Chicago Sky, and Stacey
Dales, former Sky player and sports broadcaster, welcomed all and
shared messages that encouraged all to get in and remain in the game
for life! The echoes of laughter, and a sea of smiling faces proved
what a positive impact this event had on the girls. Give Girls Game
also gave the girls a forum to share their own messages with Chicago --
loud and clear -- girls want to be active and need the support of
adults, businesses, schools and community to ensure their right to grow
up healthy, happy and strong!
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Wednesday, June 18th--Girls in the Game
partnered with Colette Spa to
reward our Girls in the Game alumnae from a week of workshops to prepare them
for their futures. We would like to thank Colette Spa for recognizing the
investment our alumnae have been putting into their futures!
The workshops were a collaboration between Girls in the Game and the Center
on Halsted, utilizing a grant
awarded to the Center to implement a city-wide, all-inclusive, "Jobs,
Money & Your Future" interactive training week. Thank you to everyone
involved in making these workshops such a success!
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