LEVELLING THE PLAYING FIELD

With girls dropping out of sports at double the rate of boys, experts are looking for solutions

- LORA GRADY

A girls’ flag football team practises at a February launch event for the Body Confident Sport program in Las Vegas.

It’s impossible to fathom what Venus Williams’ world would have been like if she’d dropped out of tennis at 14. “I can’t imagine my life without it,” she said on a Friday night in February. That’s why she’s passionate about making sure girls stay in sports, feeling “amazing and confident about themselves.” It’s also why she showed up to help coach a high school girls’ flag football team in Las Vegas, just before the Super Bowl LVIII, to help Dove launch its new initiative to support girls in sports.

“Playing sports is the best thing you can do for your life,” said Williams, who shouted encouragements and cheered for her team on the sidelines of the Las Vegas field. When they secured the trophy, the girls surrounded Williams and they celebrated together, hugging and jumping up and down. “Girls who feel good about themselves do good things in life: They make better decisions, they’re able to stand up for themselves at work, they ask for raises, and they have better relationships with people.”