We are ready to RUN...Spring 2010

Welcome to the blog for Garvy's newest addition, Girls on the Run. This program is intended for girls grades 3-5, coaches Christina Bachman and Karen Martin. Girls on Track program is for girls grades 6-8, coaches Jeannie O'Connor and Emily Eiben.

We will be starting practice the week of March 8th. Girls on the Run with Ms. Bachman and Mrs. Martin will start at 3:05 and end at 4:05 in the gym on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The program will last 12 weeks, with a week off at Spring Break. The "Girls on the Run 5k Race" will take place on Saturday, June 5th at Montrose Harbor.

Program Information from GOTR website:
Our Program
Mission
To educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.
About
Girls on the Run is a life-changing, experiential learning programs for girls age eight to thirteen years old. The programs combine training for a 3.1 mile running event with self-esteem enhancing, uplifting workouts. The goals of the programs are to encourage positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development.
Objectives
The Girls on the Run objective is to reduce the potential display of at-risk activities among its participants. The goal is fewer adolescent pregnancies and eating disorders, less depression and suicide attempts, as well as fewer substance/alcohol abuse problems and confrontations with the juvenile justice system.
Our Approach

Girls on the Run delivers our message to young girls through volunteer coaches and mentors. Our 12-week character building program of experiential learning through running teaches very specific and well-defined social and personal skills. The program culminates in a non-competitive 5K run event which gives the girls a chance to shine and an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

The curriculum encompasses the following 3 concepts:
• Weeks 1-4: All About Me...Getting to Know Who I am and What I Stand For!
• Weeks 5-8: Building My Team...Understanding the Importance of Cooperation
• Weeks 9-12: Community Begins with Me...Learning About Community and Designing Our Own Community Project
Curriculum Structure

Girls on the Run programs are based on activities that function specifically to enhance the learning process.

Each meeting is structured as follows:
• The session begins with a getting-on-board and a warm-up activity that bring the girls' focus onto the day's topic.
• The warm-up is followed by a stretching routine that allows for a topic-related question and answer time.
• Then, during the workout period, the girls participate in a variety of running activities that utilize a game or a team goal.
• Afterwards, cool-down stretching is combined a review and discussion of the day's lesson that encourages participant questions.
• Each session closes with positive words from the girls' coach regarding individual and group behaviors.
Expectations

Girls on the Run promotes physical as well as emotional, mental and character development. The girls complete the program with a stronger sense of identity, a greater acceptance of themselves, a healthier body image and an understanding of what it means to be part of a team. The participants are tested at the beginning and at the completion of the program to measure these attitudinal changes. This evaluation, executed by Rita DeBate, Ph.D., MPH, CHES with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, showed statistically significant improvements in the girls self-esteem, body size satisfaction, and eating attitudes/behaviors.
Girls On Track
Girls on the Run is the name of our organization, but we have two programs:
• Girls on the Run -- for 3rd-5th graders
• Girls on Track -- for 6th-8th graders
The Girls on the Run curriculum has been in use since the fall of 1996. Since that time thousands of girls have been through the program-but what we soon discovered is, they were having so much fun and getting so connected, they wanted something that would carry them through middle school. We originally wanted to call it Girls on the Run for Middle Schoolers. The girls who were participating told us they wanted something they could call their own. Hence the birth of Girls on Track.
The principal philosophies and psychological research for both programs are the same yet the depth of processing the topics varies with the two different curricula. We can go into more targeted and age-appropriate discussion regarding certain topics (eating disorders, tobacco and alcohol use, personal/internet safety and harassment to name a few) with the middle school participants, whereas with the younger girls the discussion remains a bit more vague or may not occur at all.
Academic Evaluation

In 2001, Girls on the Run International contracted with Rita DiGioacchino DeBate, Ph.D., MPH, CHES, to perform a formative impact evaluation. She performed the evaluation in 2002 and 2005. The evaluation assesses the Girls on the Run program and how well it meets stated objectives by using a pre-test/post-test that measures attitudes towards physical activity, self-esteem, eating attitudes, body image and communication. Dr. DeBate is an Associate Professor in the School of Community and Environmental Health at Old Dominion University.

Prior to running that pilot, Dr. DeBate’s review of the academic research in the area of girls and sports turned up two contradictory results. On the one hand, girls involved in athletics have higher self-esteem and engage in fewer risky behaviors than girls who are not. On the other hand, girls who become highly competitive in some sports (such as running, figure skating, gymnastics and other sports in which slim body images are admired) have a higher incidence of eating disorders than girls who are not involved in such sports. This poses a dilemma which – after running our evaluation - Dr. DeBate believes the Girls on the Run curricula may solve.
Through the evaluations, Dr. DeBate found that our curricula improve girls’ self-esteem, body size satisfaction, and physical activity behaviors to a statistically significant extent. Also noted are positive changes regarding attitudes towards physical activity, health behaviors, and empowerment.