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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]It's not cultural; it's about SES[/b].  I'm a first-generation Latina; my parents are both immigrants, who came to the US for boarding school and college.  Both parents were terrific swimmers, and my dad played and coached soccer, but my mom was actually a much better athlete.  She played tennis and basketball in high school.  My sisters and I all played varsity sports in high school.  All of my female cousins also played sports.

OP, I think it's terrific that your organization is trying to recruit Latina girls to play sports.  If you're having trouble, the best advice I've seen here is to connect with middle and high school coaches.  I'd also suggest that you think about financial aid and how to make practice locations and schedules accessible to parents who are both working FT with little flexibility in their work schedules.  My DD plays club lacrosse, and what we've seen is that getting kids to practice becomes a major challenge for many families of modest income.          [/quote]

Agreed somewhat because SES and culture go together.

Our Dd is Latina and she is adopted.  The other Latina girls we see on her sports teams are also adopted.  She plays softball and there is one other Latina girl whose parents are higher SES and the dad commented that he played softball in  his  home country and that softball was for boys and he was surprised to see a girls team so perhaps that has something to do with it?

If you really want to attract more Latina girls, be realistic. In this area, the majority of Latina girls are going to be living in low income families so do something to reach out to those families. A good bet - set up a program such that practices occur right after school during aftercare and parents do not need to take the kids to practice, provide as much equipment as possible to reduce out of pocket costs and when you can not do that, go to the store and actually buy the  cheapest option of the item for the players and ask their parents to reimburse you only the cost of the item to reduce the expense of time and money to go to the store to buy other items, have games after school or have weekend/evening games, send team info out via text and send it in both English and Spanish, don't do email.  Make the cost of the activity cheap - cheap enough to where they do not need to fill out a financial aid form.

If you truly want to get more latina girls[/quote]

Excellent advice and suggestions, especially re cost, communication and transportation!

My contribution:  approach the Principals and PE teachers of the ES, MS and HS in your target areas.  Offer to have a team or members of a team to come in and run a clinic or demonstration (or two or three) during the school day.  Then follow up with after-school activities.  Consistency and structure are key.  This will help you build the program.  As the children and their parents become used to the organized activities of the sport you may be able to develop a small league.  If you can get two or three schools to do an after-school program one day a week then you can have a little competition between the schools!  Fun!  And, slowly, you expand your program.  You will get buy-in from Principals and/or PE teachers as it is fairly well recognized that children who participate in organized sports gain skills that transfer into academic skills.

Good luck to you!

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