WILLIAMSBURG — Nonprofit organization Girls on the Run is about more than just running.
The 10-week after-school program promotes empowerment and self-confidence in third-fifth grade girls while also encouraging physical activity.
The research-based, social-emotional lessons are taught by trained volunteer coaches.
Now one local mother is starting a team in Williamsburg.
Rachael Sampson is a mother of three, whose oldest daughter, Ali, joined Girls on the Run as a fifth grader at Yorktown Elementary.
“Every day she’d come home raving about it. She loved it.” Sampson said.
Girls on the Run Hampton Roads serves local areas including York County, Hampton and Newport News, but there was not a team in Williamsburg.
When Sampson expressed interest in becoming a coach and bringing a team to Williamsburg, Girls on the Run Hampton Roads Program Director Ali Reynolds was immediately supportive of the idea.
Sampson and her co-coach Sydney Kehoe, a student at William & Mary, took the required training.
The spring season begins March 8, with practices taking place Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Creekside Landing Clubhouse, 224 Schooner Blvd.
Sampson said that practices will cover topics such as empathy, making friends, understanding emotions and resolving conflict.
“It’s helping girls to interact with their friends and think about themselves all in a positive manner,” she said.
The girls will learn lessons, such as inner beauty, and incorporate that into their physical activity.
The program offers a place for girls to be physically active while helping them navigate an age when girls may face more bullying, exclusion and loss of self-confidence.
“I feel that girls need an outlet to be able to express their feelings and talk to somebody who has been where they’re at, or going through the same things like their peers,” Sampson said. “They can come to the class knowing that it’s a safe place, and it’s going to teach them how to deal with their feelings in a positive manner.”
A Girls on the Run team consists of between 15 and 20 girls, depending on the number of volunteer coaches. Sampson said that the Williamsburg team is currently limited to 15 girls, but they are looking for more coaches to be able to expand.
At the end of the program, the girls complete a 5K. Leading up to the event, the girls have a chance to fundraise and earn a superhero cape to wear during the 5K if they raise $100.
The funds raised go back to the organization to be used for financial assistance for those who cannot afford to pay the program’s $165 fee.
For more information about Williamsburg Girls on the Run, contact Sampson at [email protected].
