Mental health, advocacy, and mentorship in girls' sports
True injury prevention goes far deeper than exercises performed before practice. Protecting young female athletes requires a culture that champions mental health, protects social safety, provides robust peer-to-peer mentorship, and actively fights for equitable access to sports resources.
These dynamic advocacy groups and non-profits provide toolkits, mentorship pipelines, and crisis resources designed to empower young female athletes on and off the field.
Mental health and peer support networks
1. Morgan's Message
Dedicated to eliminating the stigma surrounding mental health within the student-athlete community, Morgan's Message builds a vital peer-to-peer campus framework. They empower high school and college athletes to become mental health advocates on their teams, ensuring no one suffers from performance anxiety or depression in silence.
2. Athletes for Hope
A powerful national non-profit, Athletes for Hope connects professional, Olympic, and collegiate athletes with philanthropic causes. Their dedicated athlete mental health initiatives train competitors at all levels to champion wellness and break down stigmas within youth sports communities.
3. Lane 9 Project
Focusing directly on the intersection of disordered eating, low energy availability, and competitive sports culture, the Lane 9 Project provides a vital community space. Through newsletters, essays, and workshops, they advocate for a sporting environment free from body shaming and destructive weight-loss cultures.
Mentorship platforms and leadership pipelines
- Strong Girls United: A high-impact non-profit mission-driven to empower girls through sports, mentorship, and mental health activities. They pair young athletes with collegiate or professional athlete mentors to build lifelong confidence.
- Voice in Sport (VIS): A powerhouse digital platform providing young female athletes (ages 13–23) with direct access to mentorship from pro athletes, clinical sports nutritionists, and sports psychologists, while advocating fiercely for Title IX compliance.
- The Female Athlete Project: A dynamic media platform elevating the visibility of women’s sports, celebrating achievements, and discussing critical health and cultural challenges faced by female competitors worldwide.
- The SimiSleighs Foundation: Founded by inspiring multi-sport athletes, this foundation champions young women in sport, providing crucial financial assistance, education, and motivational pipelines to foster leadership through athletic participation.
- Simply Sport Foundation: A pioneering international sports NGO driving incredible progress through their Women Health Program and PIVOT initiative. They deliver widespread educational workshops on menstrual health, provide data tracking tools, and mentor current and retired sportswomen to transition successfully into lifelong leadership roles.
Note
Establishing safe spaces where athletes can openly discuss mental wellness, body image, and training stress is a critical core pillar of comprehensive injury prevention. G-MIP provides advocacy resources directly aligned with these networks on our get involved page.
Large-scale equity and policy advocacy
Women's Sports Foundation (WSF)
Founded by sports icon Billie Jean King, the Women's Sports Foundation is a monumental force. They fund groundbreaking research, provide direct financial grants to aspiring athletes, and shape national policy to ensure girls of all backgrounds have equal, safe access to the transformative power of sports.
Play Their Way
A massive movement centered on child-first coaching strategies, Play Their Way provides coaches with frameworks to prioritize the voice, health, and personal enjoyment of young participants, building a positive, injury-free sports culture from the ground up.