BOSTON -- Tennis legend Billie Jean King and soccer star Kristine Lilly are scheduled to launch a new initiative called GoGirlGo!, which hopes to raise awareness about the role fitness should play in the lives of girls age 8 to 18, according to The Boston Globe. The ceremony is to take place today at the University of Massachusetts at Boston campus.
GoGirlGo! is the brainchild of the Women’s Sports Foundation, which has done research on the connection between successful young women and fitness and has determined the health of today’s girls is “threatened by inactivity,” according to the Globe.
The Women’s Sports Foundation’s research shows that one in every six girls is obese or overweight, and that overweight women are 60 percent more likely to die from breast cancer. Also, 78 percent of 12th-grade girls are unhappy with their bodies, and one-third of girls will experience depression, anxiety or eating disorders, the newspaper reported.
The objectives of the GoGirlGo! initiative in Boston include providing grants to organizations that will provide physical activity for girls as well as providing a report card on the state of girls’ physical activity and health in the city, the newspaper reported. Similar initiatives by the Women’s Sports Foundation have been launched in Atlanta, Chicago and San Antonio.