NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – The Essence Festival kicks off in just another day or so, but Dr. Kimberly Clay, who is the founder and executive director of Play Like a Girl stopped by the Twist set to tell us what’s up this year at the convention center.
Play Like a Girl is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Nashville, Tenn. with the mission of inspiring girls to be physically active through sport.
“We’ve been doing the work for about 12 years, and it was birthed out of my years here at Xavier and Tulane,” Clay told us. “Part of our focus is really to get girls outdoors playing again. Sport is one piece of it inherent to our name is play. So just moving and being active, engaged in active play is something that’s really important to us.”
At Essence the group will encourage kids and moms to play double dutch.
“We have a huge barricaded area where kids and moms and the rest of the family can come out and jump double dutch right there in the booth,” Clay explained. “And on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. we’ll actually be on Center Stage, and we have a huge surprise we have Doug E. Fresh, who’ll be jumping with us. So we’re super excited about that.”
Misty Copeland is a partner with Play Like a Girl. She’ll be on the Empowerment Stage and will make a guest appearance at the Play Like a Girl booth. Copeland is also one of the ambassadors for President Obama’s council for fitness sports and nutrition.
The Play Like a Girl booth will be open from 9a-6p Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
You can join the conversation on Twitter as well @iplaylikeagirl and #bringbackplay.