How might we keep girls engaged in team sports as they grow up?

Client: Nike

Category: Corporate / Social Impact

Services:
Program Design, Research & Discovery, Strategic Planning, Facilitation

Context

Middle school is the "cliff" for girls in team sports. By age 14, they drop out at twice the rate of boys. The reasons aren't just physical (though those certainly are a factor); they are social and structural as well. Girls often feel like guests in a world built for boys.

Nike wanted to change that trajectory, but they knew another "Empowerment" ad campaign wouldn't solve the problem. They needed a programmatic intervention that would actually keep girls on the court. The challenge wasn't just to get them to play, but to give them ownership of the game itself.

Approach

We partnered with Nike to design Game Growers, a program that centered Gen Z voices as the architects of the solution.

  • Research: We conducted interviews and collaborative design sessions with Nike, NBA & WNBA staff, former WNBA players, subject matter experts in girls’ development, and girls themselves across the country. We analyzed video submissions from 44 girls in 21 states to understand exactly where the friction points were.

  • Structure: Instead of designing a program for girls, we built a platform by them. We created a challenge-based model where 7th and 8th-grade girls pitched their own ideas for getting more of their peers involved.

  • Scaling: We developed the service blueprint that allowed Nike to scale this pilot across 36 NBA and WNBA teams, creating a consistent but locally relevant experience in every participating city.

Outcomes

The program shifted the power dynamic, turning participants into leaders.

  • Participation: Thousands of girls across the US participated, with winning teams partnering with mentors in the WNBA to implement their ideas in their local communities.

  • Recognition: The program won the Hashtag Sports Award for Best Gen Z Activation.

  • Legacy: Nike and the WNBA ran the program for multiple seasons, using the blueprint we designed to reach new cohorts of girls every year.