I may not yet have been born when Billie Jean King founded the Women’s Sports Foundation in May of 1974, but 35 years later, I’m privileged to join you in celebrating and honoring the extraordinary vision of a world-class athlete, who at the peak of her career, took the time to look into the future and see a little girl like me.
Thanks to my Dad, a well-known, local, football and baseball coach, I started my athletic life on all boys’ teams. On a good day, my teammates wouldn’t talk to me at all; on a bad day, it was all about taunting and teasing the girls. My Dad wasn’t bothered, he knew what I didn’t: that when my sisters and I played, no one was laughing anymore.
Now I’m the president of the Women’s Sports Foundation. In 2004 my teammates and I on the softball team brought home gold from the Olympic Games; in 2008, silver. While our sport has been dropped from Olympic competition, with the help of the Foundation, we’re sure to have softball reinstated by the 2016 Games. It’s 35 years of that kind of commitment and determination that has helped the Women’s Sports Foundation produce:
· Legislation that fought for the rights of all girls for access to sports, including athletes with disabilities;
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Tennis legend Martina Navratilova
celebrates the Foundation's
35th anniversary |
· Landmark research that, by revealing the facts about the gains brought about by Title IX legislation, set the bar for high school and college athletics;
· Grants and scholarships, like the one Michelle Kwan’s family received to help her continue to compete; and
· The GoGirlGo! program that encourages girls who are at risk emotionally and physically to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
Now it’s time for me and for all of you to pay it forward. The Foundation needs your help; the next generation of girls needs your help. We’re losing far too many of our youngsters to inactivity, obesity, smoking, drugs, early pregnancies, school dropout, distorted body image and worse. In underserved communities the risks increase exponentially.
Won’t you celebrate the healthy life with us by making a 35th anniversary donation to the Women’s Sports Foundation, maybe in the name of a girl you love, maybe for a girl who hasn’t yet been born?
Please make a contribution to the future of girls like me.
Warmly,
Jessica Mendoza
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