Harrison, NJ (August 19, 2024– Gotham FC today announced the launch of an innovative, research-backed initiative, Keep Her in the Game, to directly address the disproportionate rates at which adolescent girls opt out of sports, by offering curated resources and programs to empower youth players on and off the field.

The comprehensive, soccer-based program is launching at a time when interest in women’s sports is on the rise, and holds potential to set a new standard for how professional sports teams use evidence-based research and data-backed programming to positively impact and effectively encourage the young athletes in their community. 

The start of the program will be recognized later today, during a pre-game ceremony at the Gotham FC vs. Chelsea FC Women match, attended by more than 200 participating youth players representing 15 teams in New Jersey and New York, and 28 of their coaches.  In celebration of the launch, the pre-game ceremony will include one of the most powerful, groundbreaking couples in women’s sports, Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss. King and Kloss will participate in the ceremonial torch lighting ceremony that Gotham FC holds before every home game. The torch lighting moment is a Gotham FC tradition and is a symbol of the club’s bold commitment to growing and improving the sport. 

Keep Her in the Game is designed to directly tackle the staggering research that reports that by age 14, girls drop out of sports at nearly twice the rate of boys, and on average, girls have 1.3 million fewer opportunities to play high-school sports than boys. Yet, the noted benefits of sports participation for girls are astounding, with 70 percent of girls involved in sports reporting high self-esteem and 61 percent indicating they learn critical communication skills through sports that are valuable for leadership roles. 
 

For each participating team, Keep Her in the Game will offer integrated youth development resources that focus on three core components – training courses and leadership activities for coaches, resources for girls’ parents and caregivers, and special access to Gotham FC players for ongoing, once-in-a-lifetime experiences in sports. The program includes transportation and Spanish language resources. 

In its first year, Keep Her in the Game will reach 1,000 girls in the New Jersey/New York region through partnerships with New Jersey Youth Soccer and South Bronx United, with an emphasis on building the program to reach BIPOC girls from historically marginalized communities with the highest risk of pending drop-outs – age 12-13 years old. The program aims to reach 10,000 girls by the end of 2027. Keer Her in the Game will include any individual who identifies as a girl, as well as non-binary and gender expansive youth.

“Gotham FC is a champion of improving access to our sport. We are thrilled to launch a program that will directly benefit the lives of young athletes in our community,” said Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, CEO and Founder, Next 3 and Governor, Gotham FC. “Current research is clear that girls abandon sports far more often than boys, and as such, girls lose out on core development opportunities. Research shows that girls who play sports are more likely to earn better grades in school and graduate, and more likely to lead at a Fortune 500 company. Gotham FC believes in the power of sports in a young person’s life, and we are thrilled to implement a program that will result in tangible change. We look forward to working with our partners to help keep girls active, happy and engaged in sports, and to provide their coaches and parents options to provide crucial support along the way.” 

Coaches, parents and caregivers in the program will receive research-backed training activities to integrate into their team culture, practices, and home lives, to support the girls' ongoing social-emotional development. By providing critical support to the trusted adults in girls’ lives – i.e., their coaches, parents and caregivers – the program is allowing adults to assist them on their sports journey, and help them develop leadership skills, build healthy team dynamics, and cultivate the resilience to stay in the game. As examples, Keep Her in the Game will offer coach training sessions that equip coaches with social-emotional learning activities to incorporate into their weekly practices (i.e., an activity on how girls can give teammates helpful feedback, or how to process a hard loss), and dedicated workshops for girls’ parents and caregivers so all who are close to the youth player share the same language and approach.

“NJ Youth Soccer is deeply committed to ongoing support of Keep Her in the Game and applauds Gotham FC for its leadership,” said Evan Dabby, NJYS Executive Director. “This effort aligns perfectly with our Growing the Girls Game initiative that focuses on empowering females both on and off the field, and at all ages and stages of the soccer experience.”

“South Bronx United is proud to continue partnering with Gotham FC on urgent initiatives that expand access within our community to the opportunities that sports unlock for young people to build healthy, fulfilling lives,” said Andrew So, South Bronx United’s Executive Director. “Keep Her in the Game is part of a much larger effort across our organization to build and strengthen programs for girls that inspire lifelong achievement and social-emotional development.”

Keep Her in the Game will also deliver once-in-a-lifetime moments for participants, providing unique leadership development opportunities and access to Gotham FC players and to Red Bull Arena for once-in-a-lifetime moments of joy and connection.

Keep Her in the Game was created in partnership with non-profit Girls Leadership and social impact advisor Charter Oak Advisory, both leading players in the development of impactful programs.  The process began in 2023, as Gotham FC and Charter Oak Advisory embarked on a multi-year process to design and implement a comprehensive social impact strategy. Through data-focused research and community outreach, the organizations selected the specific social issues the club is best positioned to help address in its communities, in particular girls’ access to soccer, with an emphasis on supporting BIPOC girls. Keep Her in the Game is the culmination of this collective design process – a comprehensive soccer-specific program tackling the disproportionate rates at which adolescent girls stop sports participation.

Girls Leadership is in its third year of partnering with the WNBA and Jr. NBA to bring gender and racial equity to the Her Time To Play program. With Her Time To Play, Girls Leadership developed 36 lessons for basketball players working with girls from elementary school to high school, as well as Belonging in Basketball, a training that brings awareness and practices to hundreds of coaches a year working with girls. Girls Leadership’s unique approach to curriculum development always begins with listening to the most marginalized girls and gender-expansive youth, and co-designing with them solutions that they envision.  

“At Girls Leadership, we couldn’t be more excited to partner with Gotham FC. Together we will listen to the girls in the community, especially those who have been historically marginalized from soccer, to build the solutions that they envision, and share them with every motivated coach. We will not adapt existing culture and practices for girls, we will design team culture with the girls at the center,” said Simone Marean, Co-Founder and Co-CEO. 

Keep Her in the Game is supported by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. 

“Our family has always supported and encouraged engagement with team sports because we’ve seen firsthand the enormous physical and psychological benefits they provide,” said Laurie Tisch, founder and president of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. “Keep Her in the Game is an ambitious innovative program that will inspire and uplift girls in our region for decades to come. We are proud to help make it possible.”

Keep Her in the Game will serve as a tentpole initiative in Gotham FC’s ongoing commitment to and investment in the surrounding New Jersey/New York community. Gotham FC’s four social impact pillars are: increasing youth access to soccer, LGBTQIA+ rights and inclusion, women’s advancement, and sustainability. The social impact pillars are intended to further the club’s commitment to advocacy for BIPOC girls, women’s rights, and the LGBTQIA+ community, specifically. Additional details and activity in each of the four areas will be announced throughout the season and year. The social impact pillars were developed in partnership with Charter Oak Advisory.

# # #

NJ/NY Gotham FC 
Representing New Jersey and New York, Gotham FC plays its home matches in the National Women’s Soccer League at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ. The club, which rebranded as Gotham FC in 2021, has been part of the NWSL since the league launched in 2013. The team won the inaugural Women’s Professional Soccer championship in 2009. Most recently, Gotham FC advanced to the 2021 Challenge Cup Final – the club’s first-ever championship appearance in NWSL competition.

Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
Keep Her in the Game is supported by the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. Founded in 2007, the Illumination Fund aims to increase access and opportunity for all New Yorkers and foster healthy, vibrant communities. The Illumination Fund plays an active role in supporting innovative approaches across a range of issues – ensuring that arts and arts education are accessible to all, promoting health, and creating opportunities for civic engagement, with a key focus on New York City.

New Jersey Youth Soccer
New Jersey Youth Soccer, a 501(c) (3) organization affiliated with U.S. Youth Soccer and the U.S. Soccer Federation, is comprised of more than 100,000 players from 5 to 19-years-old; 20,000+ coaches; and thousands of volunteers. Members collectively support the sport of soccer through training, practice, competition and the spirit of good sportsmanship. The association features recreational and travel soccer programs at multiple skill levels; Olympic Development Programs (ODP); tournaments including the National Championships; coach and referee training and certification programs; and TOPSoccer, a program for children with disabilities.

South Bronx United
Since 2009, South Bronx United has used soccer as a tool for social change aiming to help youth build character, teamwork, and leadership so that they can succeed in high school, college, careers, their community, and beyond. Its programs offer academic enrichment, college prep, mentoring, workforce development, immigration legal services, and other individual and family support. In 2020, South Bronx United was recognized with the Laureus Sport for Good Award in Berlin, Germany. Learn more at southbronxunited.org or on social media at Instagram, Facebook, or X.

Girls Leadership
Girls Leadership is a national educational non-profit organization that teaches girls and gender expansive youth to exercise the power of their voice. Girls Leadership partners with sports coaches, teachers, parents, and caregivers to cultivate awareness of how gender norms and expectations impact the wellbeing of youth, and teaches them everyday practices to cultivate belonging, community and leadership. Coaches and athletic directors come away from Girls Leadership trainings committed to role modeling and teaching sports as a source of community, community that gives athletes the courage to take risks, grow, make mistakes, and ultimately lead, on and off the pitch.

Charter Oak Advisory
Charter Oak Advisory works with leading companies, nonprofits, and individuals to improve business outcomes and drive positive social change. Charter Oak designs, implements and evaluates bespoke impact strategies that leverage its clients’ greatest capabilities to achieve measurable social change and fuel purpose-based partnerships. The firm’s leadership has founded five nonprofits and two social enterprises globally, and most of its work exists at the intersection of sport and entertainment, with clients such as StubHub, NJ/NY Gotham FC, and Black Players for Change.