Athena Lynch

"​I joined GURLS at a time when I was just starting to realize the importance of women in leadership positions, and GURLS helped me see that I too have the potential to be a great leader. GURLS pushed me to gain confidence and embrace being a leader on my teams in high school. Now, finishing up my first year on UCLA BLU, I found that even though I wasn't a captain or veteran on the team, I could still be a leader in other ways. I was also honored to be nominated for captain for the 2019-2020 school year! This program supported me, empowered me, and taught me about the importance of female leaders and athletes. I love seeing the efforts GURLS is making because I know that the young women who participate in GURLS are going to improve ultimate for generations to come."

Jasmine Der

GURLS has helped me grow as a leader both professionally and in ultimate. Learning about the fixed vs a growth mindset, importance on how leaders communicate and team culture has helped me become a better leader. As a woman in business and information technology, these lessons guide me as a manager and project leader in the workforce. As a college ultimate player, these skills help me communicate in a positive and constructive way that benefits my teams dynamic and culture. 

GURLS is an important program for creating strong female leaders, especially in a male dominated environment. This program provides an opportunity to girls to be leaders in our program and be directly involved in the growth of wxmens ultimate in the Bay. The lessons I have learned from this program has improved my confidence in my decisions and helped me stand up for others and myself.  Skills I have gained from GURLS help me off the field as well, in project management and effective collaboration in the workplace. Experience like this helps girls connect with the community and be the role models for those to come. ​

Emily Goodwin 

GURLS has helped me gain confidence in various leadership roles that I have held. When captaining my high school ultimate team, I used many of the coaching tactics that I learned in GURLS such as how to give positive feedback and how to check to make sure individuals are ready to receive feedback. I plan to use these same skills while captaining my college team, UC Davis Rogue.
​GURLS is an important program for creating strong female leaders because it is a unique opportunity to learn skill sets that aren’t necessarily taught in other settings. Being surrounded by other powerful females in the program is crucial for establishing a community where young womxn have role models to look up to and learn from. ​

Anna Reed 

Playing ultimate as a girl has helped me gain a ton of confidence as a person and a leader. GURLS then took that confidence and interest in leadership and gave me the tools to communicate assertively and effectively with people around me in all aspects of my life. On my college team, I see the value of different kinds of leadership and am more tuned into the team dynamics. Even as a rookie, I have engaging conversations with my teammates about what's happening in our season and how we think we could improve as a team. What we learned about coaching and constructive criticism has led me to be more aware of how people give and respond to feedback, and try to focus on how I can be a positive and constructive presence on the team.​

Outside of ultimate, the focus we had in GURLS on gathering data on populations who might be underprivileged and using that data to effect change sparked my interest. This quarter, I was able to start a research position where I work with a grad student to use coding and statistics to analyze data surrounding a variety of topics including violence against women on college campuses, anti-black police violence, and political participation among latino voters. This data can then be used to influence policy in a way that advocates for marginalized people.

It's no secret that sports teach valuable life lessons. However, what makes GURLS an important program is that it bridges the gap between sports skills and real world skills, allowing participants to synthesize and refine the skills we already have in order to be the best leaders we can be in life. The emphasis on understanding group dynamics, advocating for yourself and for others, and communicating in an assertive and hygienic way has been invaluable to my life since GURLS.