Encouraging girls to reach their goals

Meanwhile, an online sport community will be forged to set a platform for coaches, trainers and volunteers involved in the project to share their personal experiences and offer practical tips for training girls and how to better carry on the spirit of empowering females through sports.

Xu Lin, head of Social and Community Impact at Nike's Greater China operation, says that there is an urban-rural divide in terms of PE faculty and sports facilities. Consequently, the project will distribute more resources to rural areas by promoting tailored courses, distribution of sportswear and helping in the construction of sports facilities.

"Also, it is worth noting that the challenges encountered by urban students, to some extent, differ from those faced by their counterparts in remote villages," she adds.

For example, most of the project participants in rural areas are "left-behind" children who more or less lack love and care. The company of the volunteers will bring them warmth and companionship, she says.

With regard to urban students, who for the most part enjoy high-quality education resources and sports facilities, Xu says that many of them might have tight schedules, due to attending different kinds of afterschool classes, with little time left for sports.

"We've worked out different empowerment plans," Xu says, adding that the project has invited volunteers who study psychology in university to better communicate with the young girls to help them cope with changes in their physical maturity that occur during adolescence and their self-esteem over this period.

Diao Henan, former leader of the Peking University women's soccer team, is one of the project's volunteers. She says her involvement in sports makes her more self-assured and outgoing.

"Every time we finished a day's training on the field, we would go out together for dinner. My teammates have all become my close friends. These experiences and being a member of the team bring me happiness," she says.

"I believe that sports can teach us what we can never learn from the textbooks and how to temper ourselves," Diao says.

She was invited to be a volunteer for the project in 2019 as an assistant coach at a primary school in Beijing's Fengtai district.

"I'm happy to bring positive energy to more girls by sharing my stories," she says.

She finished her postgraduate program from the Department of Psychology at Peking University last year and has decided to conduct further research in the field of sports science.

Diao is also producing blogs on the videosharing platform Bilibili to share aspects of her daily life, both academic and athletic, to inspire more viewers to embrace their best selves.

Chen Hongtao, secretary of China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, says the foundation will help to select the schools in need and will give priority to those in key counties of the rural revitalization strategy.

"We will cooperate with multiple charity institutions to attract young volunteers to give one-on-one assistance to school-age girls. We hope that the project will not only benefit female students, but also create a wider passion for sports within these schools," he adds.

Contact the writer at xingwen@chinadaily.com.cn