Helping WIN for KC provide a winning environment for girls in their summer sport camps

Abstract

This article describes a mutually beneficial partnership between faculty andstudents in the Sport and Exercise Psychology Lab at the University of Kansas (KUSEP Lab) and the Women?s Intersport Network (WIN for KC) located in Kansas City, MO. WIN for KC is a nonprofit organization that ignites girls and women through advocating and promoting the lifetime value of sports and fitness, while providing opportunities for participation and leadership development. One major activity of WIN for KC each year is to host summer camps for girls. The camps include 6–12 year-old girls who, in a span of four days, are introduced to 16 different sports and activities. Campers are also introduced to a curriculum that promotes core values into the camp and emphasizes the transferability of these skills (i.e., respect, dream big, never give up). High school and junior high school girls are selected to be team captains and junior team captains for the campers. The energy and dedication from the team captains and WIN for KC staff has helped their camp grow quickly over the last few years to now include over 600 girls each summer. The KUSEP Lab is housed on a college campus and includes faculty and students (undergraduate and graduate) who engage in research and service activities in sport and exercise psychology. A major mission of the lab is to help sport coaches and physical activity leaders utilize theory and research in sport psychology to optimize participants? experiences. The framework used most often focuses on helping individuals understand the benefits of creating a caring and task-involving climate and developing the skills to create such a climate. This framework will be described in the article.