A UNIQUE GIRLS’ FITNESS PROGRAM GETS PLENTY OF MILEAGE IN SELF-ESTEEM BUILDING
STORY BY Elizabeth Heubeck PHOTOGRAPHY BY André Chung
Clustered at the finish line, the girls jump up and down and yell their hearts out as they see their teammate heading for the finish line. Eventually she steps over the line, where she is met with hugs and tears and cheers of victory. The best part of completing a 5k? The middle school-aged runner responds: “I’m going to talk to 
people in the halls at school that I wouldn’t have before.”
It’s not easy being an adolescent girl. The drastic physical and emotional changes are accompanied by a barrage of media messages that place enormous pressure on girls to act and look a certain way. All they really want is to be accepted by their peers. Mixed messages and uncertainty don’t help girls develop strong, healthy self-images that celebrate their individuality. But Girls on the Run of Central Maryland does.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Started as a grassroots effort in North Carolina, Girls on the Run of Central Maryland is a character development program aimed at girls in third through eighth grade. Since its launch in 2000, it has become an international nonprofit spanning more than 200 cities in the U.S. and Canada.
In 2009, Girls on the Run of Central Maryland joined this growing nonprofit whose goal is to make girls feel good about themselves. “We inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running,” reads the mission statement on the Girls on the Run of Central Maryland website. The organization’s messages run counter to negative ones often found in the media.
For example, in a weight-obsessed world, says Susan Michel, executive director of the Girls on the Run of Central Maryland council, “we talk about making healthy choices. We don’t talk about weight.”
Much more than a running program, the 10-week program teaches girls the basics of fitness and running and culminates in a local 5k run. But it’s not a fitness program per se. “It’s an esteem-building program,” Michel emphasizes. Her own 12-year-old daughter participates in the program.
The organization takes its esteem-building mission seriously. The 10-week program, which meets for 75 minutes twice a week, includes a curriculum developed by the national branch of Girls on the Run. The first section of the three-part program is called “All About Me,” and includes lessons like Taking Care of Our Physical Health and Drugs Hurt Your Chances. Section Two, “Building My Team,” covers subjects like Gossiping is a Bad Habit and Bullying is for the Birds; and Section Three is titled “Community Begins with Me,” and goes through the steps that prepare participants to complete a community project.
“It’s about developing a healthy relationship with yourself, then with others and then with the community,” says Lisa Martin, community outreach and marketing director of the Girls on the Run of Central Maryland council whose background as a personal trainer and fitness buff make her an exceptional role model to the girls she coaches.
GETTING STARTED
A few years ago, Martin, owner of the Columbia-based wellness center Salvere Health & Fitness, was looking for a way to leverage her experience with female clients who suffered from poor body image. “I do a lot of work with women. There are a lot of esteem problems surrounding body image and weight,” Martin says. “I find myself unraveling a lot of negative behavior patterns they’ve had since they were 13 or 14.”
When she learned about Girls on the Run, Martin knew she wanted to bring the program to Howard County. As a business owner, Martin wasn’t intimidated by the process of applying to launch a nonprofit (each council of Girls on the Run is either a separate nonprofit or an affiliate of an existing one). In August 2009, she received approval from Girls on the Run to form the new chapter and quickly pulled together a dozen or so local board members.
Susan Michel was one of them. “Once I read about Girls on the Run in a magazine, I knew I wanted my daughter and me to be involved,” Michel says. Now, as executive director of Girls on the Run of Central Maryland, she and Martin constitute the only paid employees of the local council. They also serve as volunteer coaches for the program, along with several others who dedicate their time to the after-school program.
In just two years, the program has grown exponentially. In the spring of 2010, the Central Maryland council launched its inaugural season, with four schools and 42 girls. Now, 37 schools and 47 teams (comprised of approximately 15 girls each) have signed on to the program, which operates similarly to a recreation council program. Area schools supply the sites, but the programs themselves are not school-run. Participants pay $150 for a 10-week session; scholarships are available.
GROWING TOGETHER
With the logistics in place, all the girls have to do is show up with an open mind. While the coaches do have a curriculum to follow, they often let the girls take it where they want to go. “We let them drive the conversation,” 
says Martin, who admits that if the girls are having a strong discussion about bullying, body image, self-esteem or the like, she lets the girls linger over it rather than break it up to begin the fitness portion of the session, which is interspersed with the coach-directed talks.
Many coaches offer expert opinions on more than ‘growing up’ subjects. “I’m a pediatric physical therapist, so I can really work with the girls,” says Temrah Okonski, a coach at Dunloggin Middle School whose daughter Mindra has participated in five of the sessions she’s instructed. Okonski can suggest corrections to a runner whose alignment may put her at risk for injury, give advice on proper footwear and make an educated recommendation of when an injury requires a trip to an orthopedic specialist. But her counsel also strays from the strictly fitness-oriented. “I tell them, if you just go out for a 10-minute walk, it all seems to get better. I say to them, ‘Use it [exercise] as a space to be healthy and give yourself some positive accolades, like I can do this!,'” Okonski says.
