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Date: 9/1/2021
NORTHAMPTON – Ahead of its fall season, Girls on the Run Western Mass. (GOTR) opened registration on Aug. 16 for its life skills and exercise program for girls across the region in third through eighth grade.
GOTR Council Director Alison Berman said the program includes teaching girls about life skills and inspiring confidence into the girls by training for a 5K at the end of the season.
“The curriculum is a life skills and a social skills curriculum that also integrates running. Each lesson has a theme like how to stand up for yourself, how to choose your friends, how to identify emotions and all the things that kids in that third to eighth grade age group really needs, all the while training to run a 5K,” she said.
Berman said the girls are split up based on their grade with girls in grades three through five in one curriculum and grades six through eight in the second curriculum.
Every year Berman said GOTR offers a spring and fall season that are typically 10 weeks long.
“We offer two seasons a year, so we have a fall season and a spring season, normally the season is 10 weeks long and the program meets twice a week but this season because of COVID we are meeting for eight weeks,” she said.
Because of uncertainty at the start of the school year due to COVID-19 concerns, Berman said the fall season was shortened by two weeks.
To cap off each season, Berman said the girls run a celebratory 5K to show that they set out and achieved their goals for the season.
“At the end of the season in normal times all the kids from Western Mass come together to run a 5K and the 5K is a celebratory event, it is not timed. The goal of the program is for kids to set goals and achieve them and also to increase their confidence,” she said.
With a sliding scale registration price from $5 to $150, Berman said no one is turned away if they cannot pay.
“We have a sliding scale from $5 to $150 and nobody is turned away, even if they cannot pay the $5 dollars,” she said.
With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, Berman said GOTR has taken measures to keep everyone safe from the virus by requiring masks, keeping all practices outside and requiring vaccinations for coaches.
Last year we did programming all year and we did some virtual, some hybrid and some in-person programming. We put in safety measures including social distancing, masking and keeping our teams outside. This season we are requiring that coaches are vaccinated and if they are not vaccinated, they have to wear masks the whole time,” she said.
Along with registrations, Berman said GOTR is currently looking for coaches to fill vacancies across the region.
“We are still looking for some coaches in some areas. Anybody who wants to volunteer we can find a place for them. Coaches do not need to be runners; this is about being there for kids and making a difference. They get training from us, and we support them throughout the season,” she said.
Anyone interested in becoming a coach for GOTR can reach out to Berman via email at alison.berman@girlsontherun.org.
Girls on the Run offers programs across all four Western Massachusetts counties and registration closes for the fall season on Sept. 13. Parents can register their children online at girlsontherunwesternma.org.
With everything children have dealt with as a result of the pandemic, Berman said she is looking forward to giving girls an avenue to address their emotions from the past year and a half.
“I am looking forward to our youth being able to make positive connections, form really good relationships and learn life skills that will be with them forever in terms of friendships and emotions because kids are grappling with so much right now. I feel this gives them a forum to access their emotions and to talk about what is happening,” she said. “In terms of healthy living, a lot of kids have been sedentary during COVID, and this gives them a way to move their bodies.”