A STUDENT of my former classmate—fellow BusinessMirror columnist Rick Olivares who teaches online journalism, writing, photography, video, interviews and life—Krizanne Ty talked about how young women and former student athletes of Girls Got Game (GGG) brought their A-game to get something special started.
“I co-founded GGG with Nikka Arcilla back in 2015. We were both former student athletes who were just passionate about sports and realized the lack of access for sports especially for underprivileged young girls,” Ty said.
Ty continued: “The road was challenging from the ground up. It was like a startup—we had to build our team, while pitching to multiple potential partners, and solidify the program. But through it all, the ‘Whys’ were very clear—so it was just the ‘Hows’ that needed refining. We were able to pool together people who were in line with our vision of empowering women through sports.”
Gely Tiu, GGG’s co-Managing Director told me: “Girls Got Game was started by Krizanne Ty and Nikka Arcilla who got like-minded individuals together with the goal of ending the cycle of poverty and pre-teen pregnancy among young Filipinas aged 10-12 years old from low income families.”
My younger sister is a third term councilor in Quezon City and she told me how crucial it is to teach and disseminate information on sex education to young Filipinas to fight the rising cases of pre-teen and early teen pregnancies in depressed areas.
Gely told me about the initial challenges they faced: “In 2015 there were not a whole lot of women empowerment organizations around.”
She added: “There were a lot experimentations and trials that went into building the model and program that would follow what was in our mission, vision and values as an organization.
“We really had to dig into our reservoir of patience, hard-work, dedication and commitment to the cause and the organization. We set meetings with potential partners, possible communities and beneficiaries of our advocacy.”
According to Gely, because of the outbreak, their long-term plans became short term in a matter of months. They had to look beyond sports camps and other projects in the pipeline to stay on track in meeting their goals and objectives.
Like other organizations, GGG moved quickly and looked for options and alternatives to circumvent the pandemic. One alternative was launching an E-learning series of sports modules on their social-media platforms.
They also organized a donation drive wherein the proceeds were used to purchase feminine kits for female frontline health workers at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
“There is a natural ‘high’ that is experienced after every sports camp,” Gely said. “There’s a light that emanates from every young girl that attends their camps and the empowerment and inspiration is palpable among the volunteers.”
As I watched the videos of testimonials and shares from the young girls and volunteers, I feel the gratitude and joy from the young lady beneficiaries of the program, and from the volunteers, their passion, dedication, sacrifice, commitment and responsibility to make sure the girls get the most out of the experience.
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