I joined the GOTR board in June 2024. GOTR’s mission drew me in and persuaded me that being on the board would be a valuable use of my time and have a high return on my investment of my personal and financial resources. GOTR’s mission of inspiring girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident spoke to my inner child.
When I was in elementary and middle school, I struggled to make friends and had poor self-image. I was an overweight competitive swimmer who hated running and avoided it at all costs. My peers often teased me because my family could not afford popular name-brand clothes. And even if my family could have afforded those clothes, I would not have been able to fit into them...even an XL was too small for me (to be fair to my past self, the clothes did run small). At the time, I struggled to value my skills and personality traits that helped me build a strong social support network and successful legal career today: setting long-term goals, organizational skills and high executive function, decisiveness, loyalty, directness, vision, drive, empathy, determination, and being willing to work hard.
GOTR’s value to girls like my past self
Through my service on the GOTR board, I have attended GOTR coach training, substituted as a coach at a GOTR lesson in Binghampton, and volunteered at both the spring and fall 5Ks. At coach training, the new coaches and I ran through a GOTR lesson so that we would know what to expect and could see how the lesson flowed from physical activities to substantive lessons. The lesson we went through taught how to differentiate positive self-talk from negative self-talk and explored the value in framing self-reflection positively—a way to raise self-esteem and self-confidence that I would have benefited from when I was younger. That session left me with gratitude that I was giving my time to an activity that would help young girls grow stronger and more confident—a way to pay my own hard-earned experience forward.
Coaching as connection
Substitute coaching was a window into how GOTR’s programming works. Only one coach was available one Wednesday in October, and they needed a second coach to be able to hold the session as scheduled. (And wow, do I absolutely agree after attending the session! The more coaches, the better!) The girls arrived wired after their school day, and the other coach and I worked to calm them down and center them on the theme of the day: how to evaluate friendships and be a good friend.
During our laps outside, one of the girls said that she had a headache and did not want to participate in the last exercise before we wrapped up for the day. I told her that I get headaches too, and running can certainly make them worse. So I untied my jacket from my waist, spread it on the ground, and told her she could sit or lay down on it if she wanted to so that she wouldn’t get her clothes dirty. After she sat down, I talked her through the final outdoor activity (whether certain actions made someone a great friend, an okay friend, or a bad friend) and asked her opinion on the prompts so that she could still participate in the activity.
During lesson wrap up, the girls gave each other Energy Awards (encouraging kudos given to those who they felt went above and beyond in some way during the lesson). The girl with the headache gave me an Energy Award for watching out for her while her head hurt! I helped her feel seen and understood; she helped me feel appreciated for volunteering my time and stepping out of my comfort zone to substitute coach a GOTR lesson where I didn’t know anyone.
Volunteering at the 5ks
Each GOTR season concludes with a non-competitive 5K race where the girls dress up (sometimes in tutus or face paint) and run or walk a 5K with their family members and GOTR coaches. Before the race, our 5Ks have stations for press-on nails, face glitter, and “Bling Your Bib” bib decoration to spark joy and excitement. The races themselves have a celebratory atmosphere with a DJ, an official Memphis Runners Track Club start and finish line arch, and medals (and sometimes Mempops) for everyone. Every year, we need an assortment of volunteers for different shifts: set up, tear down, course monitors, medal hander-outers, check-in, and the GOTR store. Volunteering at the 5K can take as little as an hour or two or the whole afternoon, but either way, seeing the GOTR girls’ excitement and pride at finishing their race and GOTR season seals the deal.