Celebrating 2023 National Girls & Women in Sports Day

February 1, 2023 is National Girls & Women in Sports Day, an annual event celebrating the millions of girls and women involved in sports. IMG Academy is incredibly proud to provide a platform for young women to not only train, study, and develop, but to also offer a workplace where women have the opportunity to impact the lives of tomorrow's future leaders and champions.

Together, we celebrate and honor girls and women in sports.

Take a look at the last twelve months as we reflect on the tremendous, campus-wide and global efforts we've focused on to support girls sports initiatives both on and off campus:

• Provided $3.5M+ in new financial aid towards girls enrollment, including six full scholarships to our boarding school and 1,000+ Women in Sports Committee All In Awards, which provide complementary MVP access to the highest NCSA’s online recruiting service.
  • NCSA is the nation's largest college recruiting network, provides innovative tools to help student-athletes increase their chances of playing sports in college, including online education and performance training, expert recruiting guidance, data-driven college matching tools and access to more college coaches than any other college recruiting service.
  • NCSA offers a tiered solution for families, with the MVP service being the most personalized option with expert support, including but not limited to full access to their digital product and NCSA University, direct promotion to college coaches, custom evaluations with a recruiting coach, SAT/ACT prep, live support, and more.
  • IMG saw an 8 percent increase YOY in college commitments from female student-athletes who use NCSA’s online recruiting service (11,000+).
• Formed the IMGA Women In Sports Committee
  • Dedicated to improving accessibility and participation of young women in sports, IMG's Women in Sports Committee includes members such as Cari Champion, Dany Garcia, Lindsay Davenport, Lindsey Vonn, Michele Tafoya, and Robin Roberts. Members are not only provided with scholarships in their name to grant to deserving young women towards IMG, but it also places a significant emphasis on developing programs and initiatives to create change.
• On the field, we won our first girls team sport national championship (U-19 Premier Girls Soccer Team), had our highest drafted alumna in IMG Academy history (Michelle Cooper, 2nd overall NWSL), saw our women’s basketball team play for the first time in the [Geico National Championship semi-finals] and celebrated three female All-Americans: Kosi Umerah (Girls Track and Field), National Champion for Hammer Throw, Grace Vanslooten (Girls Basketball), McDonald’s All-American, and Ruby Lynch (Girls Lacrosse), US Lacrosse All-American.
• In the classroom, we celebrated Harvard Book Award winner (Bella Toscano), Yale Book Award winner (Flora Zhang), and a Certificate of Merit for the National Merit Scholarship Program winner (Brooke Pederson).
• Formed and funded our IMGA Foundation, a 501c3 with a primary starting focus on supporting girls sports initiatives beyond our walls.
• Launched girls volleyball, with camp beginning this summer and the boarding school program commencing in the fall of 2023.

As we look towards the next 12 months, we're ecstatic with the progress we've made while also being more eager than ever to continue our journey together. After watching our Girls and Women in Sports video, begin to explore all of IMG's on-campus and online programs and services available for dedicated and passionate female student-athletes, including youth sport camps, IMG's boarding school program for 6-12th graders and post-graduates, IMG+ online coaching, NCSA College Recruiting, and more.