Renton School District hosts Girls in Sports Day

On a calm quiet Saturday afternoon at Renton Memorial Stadium, six high schools were gathered for Renton School District’s first Girls in Sports event.

Renton, Hazen and Lindbergh girls soccer teams all played a game against South Kitsap, Thomas Jefferson and Clover Park high schools. In between, before and after, all the girls attended talks with a variety of speakers in and around the stadium.

It all comes from the mind of Renton School District Athletic Director BJ Kuntz, who brought the idea to life. During her first year at Renton, it felt like girls sports needed some more investment from the district, said Kuntz.

The process for picking the three opponents for the Renton schools to play was also important for Kuntz. She found three schools all that had similar demographics, size and skill levels, and even had female athletic directors.

“I invited some schools and they were interested along with our coaches. The Renton School District has such good partnerships with the Sounders and Providence … They didn’t just say yes, they said absolutely, what do you need,” Kuntz said.

The three speakers were Lesle Gallimore, who is the acting Seattle Reign FC General Manager, Dr. Jordan Orr, who is a sports medicine doctor at Providence, and former U.S. Women’s National team player Lori Henry, who played on the first women’s national team back in 1991.

“There was something in every session that (players) were able to grab,” Kuntz said.

She even heard from a senior player who had their motivations changed when heading to college next year: “She told me, ‘I just feel so different about what I want to do when I grow up.’ I heard that kind of buzz,” she added.

Along with hearing from these speaker, girls went home with a free soccer ball, T-shirt with “Mindset Matters” across it, a sports bra and two tickets to an upcoming Seattle Reign game — and last but not least, a bottle of chocolate milk. All of the donations were made by the Seattle Reign, Seattle Sounders, RAVE Foundation, Washington Soccer Foundation and The Sports Bra Project.

Each team was given 60 Reign tickets.

For Renton’s Head Coach Rebecca Swanson, who doubles as a teacher, she saw a different side of her team during the talks. No phones out, and a lot of questions being asked, which was exactly the point of this event.

“As a teacher I have a hard time getting them to put their phones away. But I didn’t see them taking out their phones in the middle of the speeches. They were listening and engaged. It was a really valuable experience,” Swanson said.

The support from those organizations was not only felt through the administrators like Kuntz, but also the players and coaches.

“I’m really excited about the support. Half of these girls may have played soccer growing up. The other half started in high school. Getting to see the community to invest in them and their experience, I am really grateful for that,” Swanson said.

Giving these girls a space like this is truly special. The reception from all involved has been overwhelmingly positive.

“The speakers that she brought in were a surprise to me. I didn’t realize what kind of connections we would be able to get and what kind of experiences the girls would be able to hear about, which was really cool,” Swanson said.

There is a want to have something like this for all three seasons. The amount of time and effort made it difficult to get something ready for basketball. But there will be a “girls in sports” event for softball in the spring and possibly something for track and field and cross country next fall.

“My goal is to do a softball (day). Because I am so involved in track and field, we might do something there. I am just stewing around on how to do something there,” Kuntz said.