What we do
girlgol partners with local entities around the world to offer sports camps and sponsor sports teams that intertwine girls empowerment curricula alongside the teaching of basic sports skills. The organization largely focuses on girls ages 5 to 12 years old. We rarely design and offer entire programs ourselves, opting instead to partner with local organizations which are better able to identify and meet the needs of girls in that country or region. Our partners around the world have been local organizations, schools, businesses, communities and government entities.
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Our Values
Humility
girlgol is one small piece of a much larger network of people and organizations which will influence these girls’ lives. The girls’ should remain the focus, not the organization.
Locally grounded
girlgol values and embraces the leadership role our local partner organizations play in providing culturally appropriate opportunities to girls.
Nimble
girlgol recognizes that our strategies will have to adapt to meet changing local needs and customs.
Shayla Fitzsimmons-Call, CEO
Shayla is a third-year undergraduate at Stanford University studying International Relations and Acting.
Her middle school did not have a girls’ soccer team, so she played on - and captained - the boys’ soccer team. About that time, she traveled to Haiti and noticed that every open field or street corner was commandeered for a pick-up soccer game comprised entirely of men or boys.
Since then, Shayla dreams of a future where every girl has equitable access to sports. She founded girlgol in 2018 to inspire communities around the world to use sports as a means of empowering girls. Through sports, girls can learn how to lead, how to play a critical role as part of a team, how to win, fail, compete and be resilient — all things that societies emphasize in the development of boys but often not for girls.