Today we’d like to introduce you to Breaira Barksdale.
Hi Breaira, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started playing basketball when I was 9 years old. I graduated from Baltimore City College where we were considered the first ever state champions. After I graduated from City, I walked off the stage and into the mountains of the University of Asheville. Here is where I started to discover my love of sports through being apart of SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee). During my time as President of the SAAC I was award the opportunity to go to the NCAA headquarters to learn more about the governing of sports. This 3 day experience in Indianapolis really opened my eyes about being in this industry. I was very determined when I graduated, and wound up laying my first job with the Atlanta Hawks as a Community Coordinator Coach. In 2016 I was named employee of the year.
In 2019 I moved back to Baltimore to jump start my nonprofit, Girls Getting Better. GGB is a grassroots program dedicated to providing affordable basketball training, tournaments, and clinics to offer opportunistic for them to develop. The Summer Series not only served youth girl basketball players, but that same summer I launched the BWI league, a ncaa sanctioned league for college and professional athletes. Tomorrow will be Vol.5 of the BWI League.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road at all, between the new structure of grassroots sports, the infrastructure of our city, and people just not wanting to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to female sports, its very quite difficult. I am also a one man band. While I have volunteers, and family members that help me run events. It is often hard to plan logistics and delegating task to others. Being a nonprofit is already hard with the climate of our country and how people view nonprofits. It was very hard for me to get my first grant, but once I did, i felt very comfortable writting more.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Girls Getting Better is an affordable grassroots program for girls (1st-10th grade) who want to develop their skills in basketball. People should know that we have the best summer programming tailored to girls. Our GGB program host “biddy Leagues,” “middle School March Madness ” and we have a Summer Series including the BWI. The BWI League is a NCAA sanctioned league where ladies compete over the course of 6 weeks. I think what set my program apart is us being official with the NCAA tag. My most proud moments are always opening night! I love opening night. The entire community comes together to support the ladies.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Humming Birds in the trenches
I like Kylie sports center
I like Baltimore history channel
Pricing:
- $150
