Play Like a Girl Hits The Ice
Play Like a Girl Camp strikes again! This time, our super exciting sports destination was the Ford Ice Center, where we had a seriously chilly and extremely FUN afternoon of ice skating.
We started the day off with an inspiring career panel — seriously, girls, the discussion was filled with major info — where we had a chance to meet six amazing women behind our favorite hockey team, the Nashville Predators, before being treated to our own little pizza party. They do EVERYthing for Smashville. In fact, Rebecca King, Senior Director of Community Relations, was hugely responsible for us being there.
We learned about a variety of careers from communications and social media to creative services and corporate partnerships. Before hearing from them, we really had no idea that we girls could do all of that in a male sport. I won't lie...we were a little shy! So, Dr. Kim and our parents asked all the interesting questions. But I promise we learned a lot.
When asked about failure, the ladies encouraged us girls to embrace failure as fuel to build our confidence and keep playing, learning and growing--both on and off the rink. A few talked about the challenges they face being women in a male-dominated workspace. "Often, I'm the only woman boarding that plane. The only woman in the locker room. At times this season, I've had to remind myself that I'm there because I'm qualified. I'm there because I'm great at my job, and I happen to be a woman," said Natalie Aronson, Corporate Communications Manager, who highlighted the important and unique qualities that women offer in the workplace as well as the critical role that male advocates play in the advancement of women in the sports industry.
Next, we gathered in teams of 3-4 for a quick STEM lesson and reaction time test. Using a yardstick and help from teammates, we learned about the importance of quick reflexes and response time in the job of the "goalie" on a hockey team. As you may know, the goalie's job is to prevent the opposing team from scoring a point by stopping the hockey puck from entering the net. Goalies need to have the ability to react extraordinarily fast when a hockey puck is whizzing towards them at 90 miles per hour, or they'll come up toothless, lol.
Resting our arms in the air, we held our thumbs and index fingers about an inch apart while a teammate held the yardstick so that its bottom end was between our two fingers. Without warning, the teammate holding the yardstick dropped the yardstick. And we closed our fingers to catch the yardstick as quickly as we could, repeating the activity until everyone had a chance at it. After each rotation, we wrote down the number of inches the yardstick fell before we caught it and calculated the average to see who had the quickest reaction time.
We learned that an average person catches the yardstick at around 6 to 8 inches. This is a reaction time of .177 to .204 seconds. That's pretty fast, right? But to match the reaction time of a professional hockey goalie, who needs to stop a puck traveling at 90 mph from 20 feet away, we would have to catch the yardstick at 4.5 inches! A hockey puck traveling at 152 feet per second will travel 20 feet in .152 seconds. That's about 1/10th of a second. It was a fun activity but we'd better keep practicing with our yardsticks if we ever want to become a goalie!
Finally, we laced up our skates and hit the ice. Some of us literally hit the ice. (Kidding! Or am I? I’ll never tell.) With the plexiglass surrounding the rink, the smell of stinky feet from the ice skates, cheers and flashing lights from cameras on the sidelines and the slick, shining ice, we might as well have been in a game at Bridgestone Arena. Oh, and did I mention that Gnash hit the ice with us too?! It was sooooo much fun!
After making several rounds (and several Boomerangs; we can’t help ourselves!), we removed all the layers and took it straight outdoors to the playground. We also replaced some of those calories we’d torched on the ice — our butts were feeling it from all the falls — with ice cream and slurpies after playing with new friends under the hot sun.
We want to say a huge thank you to our partners at the Nashville Predators and Predators Foundation that make fun camp days like this possible and to Ford Ice Center for hosting us at their magical ice rink! If you want to get in on our next super fun STEM and sports camp in September (Trust us, you do. It’s gonna be goooood.), then make sure to subscribe to our email newsletter here or in the footer of any page on our website.
A Fresh, New Website with You in Mind
We are proud to announce the launch of the newly redesigned Play Like a Girl website, iplaylikeagirl.org. This redesigned site offers quick and easy access to essential information and features while offering a more comprehensive understanding of Play Like a Girl’s mission and program offerings. The website also offers updated information on news and press releases, participant testimonials, board member profiles and volunteer opportunities. Updated blog posts will include topics centered around health, confidence and leadership, as well as key industry highlights and news in the STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) and sports fields.
The primary objectives of our site development effort were focused on aesthetics, simplifying our content, increasing the visibility of our programs and improving the user experience. The new website has a clean uncluttered design, improved functionality and enhanced rich content focused on the organization’s mission to harness the natural properties of sport to propel young women into male-dominated careers at the intersection of STEM and sports. The new design also allows for streamlined menus, clear navigation and a responsive layout for all platforms.
“We are excited about our new website launch and the robust information it provides for participants, donors, partners, volunteers and media to better understand Play Like a Girl’s mission,” said Dr. Kimberly Clay, CEO of Play Like a Girl. “We believe that this new site will allow our visitors to have a very informative experience as we continue to grow and increase our online presence.”
In addition to the updated design and layout, the following new content and functions have been implemented in the new site:
- Locations — It's easier than ever to find a Club, Camp or other Play Like a Girl program or event on our new locations page. To join a club, simply contact the Club coach at the email provided. Or, start a Club or host a Camp for girls in your community by clicking the respective button from the bottom of the page.
- Get Inspired — Become an advocate for the power of STEM and sports to help girls reach their full potential by sharing your own stories and experiences participating in or coaching a Club, hosting a Camp or volunteering with a program or event. Our new blog highlights your stories from the field in new ways, bringing your stories closer to donors and inspiring others to stay in the game just like you.
- Fundraise — The key business challenge for us right now is more repeatable, sustainable revenue so we've included new ways to genuinely engage with supporters to raise funds, increase awareness and reach new donors, especially focused on creating campaigns that encourage you to ask your friends and relatives to donate to Play Like a Girl.
- Quick Links — While on any given page, you can now access the following key links from the footer or bottom of the page: Get Involved, Read Our Blog, Meet Our Team, Partner with Us, Press, Financials, Contact Us, Speaker Requests and Get Our Emails.
The new website will be updated on a regular basis with news of event announcements, program activity, corporate milestones, blog articles and press releases. Additional features including an online store and resource center on the backend for Club coaches and Camp hosts will be added over the course of several weeks.
Please explore the website and sign up for direct emails from us by adding your email address to the newsletter subscription box anywhere on the site. Your feedback is very important to us as we strive to develop a website that is valuable to you. Submit any questions, comments and concerns to us at www.iplaylikeagirl.org/contact-us/.
A special thanks to web developer and designer Georges Etienne of 84studios.net and the Huckleberry Designs and Social Cake teams for participating in the redesign process.
Closing The Dream Gap
Research shows that gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children's interests over the longterm. The average age that girls stop thinking they can be and do anything is six years old. That's when girls become less likely than boys to see themselves as "really, really smart."
This phenomenon is called the 'Dream Gap' and it stands between every girl and her full potential. It runs the gamut for girls and women around the world--from being unable to identify as very intelligent to being far less likely to picture their future selves as scientists, engineers or working in any STEM career role -- even when girls outperform boys in math and science.
The erosion of girls' confidence and self-esteem is well underway at age six, and they cannot imagine the possibility of anything else. Dreaming is the key to a future in which more than 80% of jobs are STEM-related.
The Dream Gap not only robs girls of their ability to value themselves but it takes away their ability to imagine new possibilities, explore new worlds and think new thoughts, which is what makes innovation and new breakthroughs possible.
How do we keep our girls dreaming? We keep them playing according to Mattel, the maker of Barbie.
The richest forms of play can help girls imagine themselves as athletes, scientists, coders, engineers, mathematicians or anything.
For nearly 60 years, Barbie has led girls on a path to self-discovery and helped them to imagine the possibilities. This type of play has the power to close the Dream Gap.
At Play Like a Girl, we're seizing this opportunity to harness the natural properties of sport (or active play) to propel young women into male-dominated careers--especially at the intersection of STEM and sports.
We envision a world where all girls have the confidence and opportunity to become unstoppable women. Let's inspire the next generation by showing them that they can be and do anything they can imagine.