Female middle school students in Memphis, Tennessee will take part in a Play Like a Girl Meet + Mentor day camp powered by Academy Sports + Outdoors on Wednesday, July 7, 2021.

AutoZone Park, home to the Redbirds Baseball Club, will be transformed into a mentoring lab designed to encourage local girls in their STEM pursuits and create a diverse female STEM leadership pipeline.

Play Like a Girl staff, Academy employees and volunteers will accompany 20 middle school students through STEM-related and confidence-building activities centered around the mathematics–data, statistics and analytics–behind the game of baseball (and softball). Activities include:

• Panel Discussion and Q&A featuring accomplished women in baseball, softball and STEM
• STEM Mentoring Moment, an opportunity for students to meet and have a hands-on working session with women leaders in the architectural design of stadiums and sports facilities
• Confidence-building Activity Inspired by Play Like a Girl’s Curriculum, through which girls can learn SMART goal-setting from Play Like a Girl’s CEO Dr. Kimberly Clay
• Softball Clinic with players and coaches to run drills and play ball–maybe even some soccer, too!

Play Like a Girl Meet + Mentor events are ongoing celebrations to shine a light on empowering women role models in an effort to inspire more girls to reach their full potential in sport and STEM.

Participating students will be featured in a three-part YouTube series showcased across Academy’s social channels this summer.

The next event will take place in the Houston/Katy, Texas area on July 13, 2021.