GirlSportWorks has worked with Escalando Esperanzas once before to take a group of our girls on a trip rock-climbing in Poroy. The trip was successful and the girls learned a lot about the different life skills we teach at GSW. They worked as a team to encourage each other to reach the top. It was not easy. Most of the girls had never been rock-climbing before. While it seemed daunting at first, after a few girls took the initiative to being climbing, the others followed and they each ascended working as a unit. The success of the trip influenced our decision to organize it again, but this time we wanted more community involvement. After meeting with the owner of Escalando Esperanzas, he explained that for every 4 or 5 girls we would need at least one volunteer to help with “crowd control” and general support.

While we have a relationship with the administration at most of our schools, we are not really involved in the girls’ family lives. We saw this as an opportunity to ask if their mothers would like to try rock-climbing and volunteer for the trip. Having the girls see their mothers challenging themselves both physically and mentally through rock-climbing could really influence the way they behave in class and their enthusiasm for athletics. This trip would also be a great opportunity to share the lessons and life skills we teach the girls with their mothers so that they can understand we do not simply teach sports. We hope that this trip will also act as a trial run before we implement the mother-daughter leadership day we are currently planning. A positive response from the mothers, will result in them becoming more involved in the program and therefore matriculation rates for our classes will increase and more girls will benefit from our lessons.

Objectives of the Trip:

• Girls will learn skills of leadership, teamwork, confidence, communication and healthy living through challenging themselves both physically and mentally in an activity that is new to them.
• Mothers will understand more about GSW and our mission rather than thinking we are simply an organization that teaches physical education.
• Mothers will be more involved in the lives of their children and encourage their girls to attend Chicas Dinamicas
• Girls will see their mothers as strong and empowered women
• Mothers and daughters will enjoy rock climbing and will become interested in similar adventurous activities

The Agenda for the trip included much more than just rock-climbing! The girls took an essential first aid lesson, participated in relays that stressed the importance of teamwork and communication, and they got to express their creative sides through face painting! The trip was a blast and all of the girls were very sad to have to return home.

I also created a Guideline for future PMs to use when planning a similar trip in the future and I wrote a Blog to show just how much fun and learning took place!