Fueling Female Athletes – Hibbett | City Gear & Nike Award 3 Programs $5,000

Girls are powerful. They are brave, innovative, and hungry to ignite change that will positively impact their futures and the futures of the women who will come after them.

What does it take to put these future chasers’ ideas into action? What does it take to change the world around them? It takes confidence, confidence in their abilities to influence their peers. It takes resilience, a drive to push back when life tries to knock them down, and it takes the unwavering support of other like-minded females cheering them on no matter what.

For many young women, that group of supporters is their teammates; their confidence is gained through their triumphs on the playing field and their fight comes from the relentless energy they bring game after game, win or lose.

For years, sports have provided students and student-athletes with nearly endless opportunities for self-growth, development of core values and ideals, building blocks for new futures, and lessons in accountability, reliability, integrity, and initiative. It’s no wonder that many of today’s social leaders and advocates are current or former athletes.

At Hibbett | City Gear, we know what an important role sports — and team-oriented activities in general — play in preparing the next generation for greatness. That’s why this year we’ve partnered with Nike to recognize and reward three outstanding high school women’s basketball programs with funds to fuel their next season.

“This opportunity will further showcase the type of dedication the Hibbett team is committed to investing in our future leaders. We want to continue to strengthen our bond within the community by investing in our future,” said Hibbett Sports District Manager Zenobia Allen about how this partnership and donations will impact her local community. “We also strive to help create effective leaders and by engaging and investing time with these young future leaders, that goal can be accomplished.”

This season, Birmingham, Alabama’s Huffman High School Lady Vikings basketball team; Ridgeland, Mississippi’s Ridgeland High Girls’ Basketball program and Decatur, Georgia’s Southwest DeKalb High School Panthers’ Girls’ Basketball team were each rewarded with $5,000.

“Our basketball program has been very successful in providing structure, teamwork and relationship-building skills. This donation will help and improve equipment needs that would benefit the girls,” said Coach Wade Hawkins, the girls’ basketball head coach at Ridgeland High. “The girls are excited beyond words because this will allow us to purchase items we have always wanted but did not have the funding to do so. The program covers grades 7-12, so there will be many girls benefiting from this donation.”

Each program was recently honored with an official check presentation, at which time, coaches, athletes and Hibbett | City Gear representatives joined in celebrating the possibilities of the coming season. At Huffman High School, this ceremony was part of the school’s official Spring Signing Day. (You can view the video of that ceremony at the bottom of this post!)

“This is meaningful and impactful to our program and school because we put so much time and effort into what we do and we often struggle financially to keep a top-notch, Elite program. This opportunity shows the great student-athletes that we have at Huffman High School and the hard work that goes into every season to be successful,” Lady Vikings Head Coach Lin Slater commented.

Over the past 8 seasons under Coach Slater’s leadership, the Lady Vikings have been to the Final 4 in 2016, won 1 Regional Championship, Has had 2 Elite 8 Appearances, 2 Sweet Sixteen Appearances, and won 5 area Championships. For 6 straight seasons, the Lady Vikings have had players sign basketball scholarships to Division 1, 2, NAIA, and Junior Colleges.

“As a Coach, this means a lot because it shows that hard work, dedication and commitment does not go unnoticed and that blessings come in all shapes and forms. We greatly appreciate this opportunity and donation, as it will help us in many ways as we prepare for the upcoming season.”

Donation funds from Hibbett | City Gear and Nike’s partnership will provide resources for equipment, uniforms, travel and the like for these three outstanding teams, but this program has the potential to impact the young women and girls on these teams in ways that extend beyond the court.

Kathleen Richey-Walton, Head Girls’ Basketball Coach and Athletic Director at Southwest DeKalb High School said it best: “This is a tremendous honor for our program. All the young ladies who have gone through this program have done their best to compete at the highest standard and with the utmost integrity. These resources will make a huge difference in our program, especially during this time of Covid where our resources have been limited. We will be able to improve the experience of our young ladies to the point where they will have pride in representing our school and the community.”

Prior to receiving this donation, the Southwest DeKalb High School girl’s basketball team didn’t know how they were going to be able to participate in a Christmas tournament this December. Immediately after receiving this donation, Coach signed the Christmas tournament enrollment contract.

Huffman High School Check Presentation Ceremony