The non-profit All Girls Ball offers a free basketball league to families who are making the tough choice of cutting out sports in their family budget and helping to fill a huge gap in the Houston girls’ basketball circuit.
KPRC 2 News Anchor Sofia Ojeda met with the founder to learn the motivation behind it.
“We found out that finding an all girls’ team can be a little tricky to find. Then we thought there’s a lot of co-ed recreational opportunities, lots of competitive A.A.U. opportunities, in the middle there’s a big gap so we wanted to fill it,” founder Cora Lindsay said.
Lindsay said the league was designed to give girls a supportive place to learn the game before moving into more competitive play.
“The parents and I all huddled together. We rallied together to create a curriculum that allows girls to fall in love with basketball first and gives them that safe space between co-ed rec and competitive A.A.U.,” Lindsay said.
That supportive approach also shapes how coaches respond when players are struggling.
“Girls do have a little bit of a confidence challenge when it comes to playing with their peers. We don’t do on the line, we don’t do punishment for running, we do run, we do do ladders, but we just approach it differently. If they are feeling sad and dejected we let them know it’s time to take a break,” Lindsay said.
The program focuses on physical development, too.
“We are just as focused on their bodies being conditioned and strong and creating a program where they are strength training, where they’re going to do balance work and their joints are going to get stronger,” Lindsay said.
All Girls Ball also works to keep cost from becoming a barrier for families.
“To make this accessible for everyone we’ve padded the registration fee for those who can pay to have a tiny bit of that go into our scholarship fund. There’s an affordability crisis and all those things weighing on our minds as parents and grownups we tend to think what can we cut from our budgets, we don’t want to think team sports and community to be one of those things,” Lindsay said.
For more information go to www.allgirlsball.com.
Their Free Play Night at the park is Thursday nights at 6 p.m. at Godwin Park located at 5101 Rutherglenn Drive in the Meyerland area.
