Today I am sharing a fantastic story about a few women on a mission to help girls around the world! It’s called Activyst and you’re going to LOVE this. Activyst is a combination of the two words – active and catalyst – because when girls are active, it’s a catalyst for change in their lives. Thier mission is to change the world by helping girls play sports. How are they doing this? By creating these super fun and stylish athletic bags that generate funding for girls’ sports organizations worldwide. Told you you’d LOVE it.
“We started Activyst because we all played sports when we were young, and understood on some level that being athletes enabled us to achieve in other areas of life. We discovered that girls in impoverished communities worldwide, including the U.S, often don’t have access to sports opportunities. We’re also aware that girls worldwide are suffering; teen pregnancy, abuse, lack of education, and the list goes on.”
The benefit of sports for girls
Sports are a simple, yet high-impact way to completely transform girls’ lives. Getting a girl involved in sports not only creates positive change during her childhood years, but also fosters profound benefits and traits that persist into adulthood.
First, girls who play sports are significantly healthier than those who do not. They have decreased risk of breast and other cancers, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis. Female athletes are also more educated; they have higher attendance rates in school, higher likelihood of graduating and attaining higher levels of education, and better grades. These educational advantages then lead to increased work opportunities. Additionally, girls who play sports are happier, having reduced risk of depression and suicidal behavior, more opportunities to make friends, increased confidence, and healthier body image. They develop transferable skills and traits, like leadership, focus, goal attainment, teamwork, and resilience.
Perhaps most interesting is that girls who play sports are less likely to make decisions that put their well-being at high risk. They become sexually active later, have fewer sexual partners, are less likely to have unprotected sex or engage in sexual activity under the influence of drugs or alcohol, have lower risk of sexually-transmitted disease, and are less likely to become pregnant as a teen. They are also less likely to smoke, use drugs, or stay in an abusive relationship.
So many of these benefits really come back to one issue: confidence. Being a girl can be confusing, with many often harmful messages from the media, the opposite sex, and peers. Yet, if one has self-confidence and a healthy sense of self, she has the tools to navigate these tricky issues and make decisions that are in her best interests, rather than in response to external influences.
They have also partnered with Soccer Without Borders. This could not have landed on my lap at a better time. Since my daughter plays soccer and we are moving to Costa Rica this summer, I have been wondering how we can get her on a team. I am hoping to learn more about this program and perhaps even get involved.
Support Activyst and help girls around the globe
They currently have a crowd-funding campaign live on Indiegogo.
Visit and buy a bag!
Like them on Facebook
Follow them on Twitter @activyst
