Heart & Sole program shows middle-school girls how to use running to move forward in life
Since she was 12, Jessica Hebl has strapped on her shoes to go for a run to feel uplifted, whether to hurdle obstacles at school or nurse a teenage heartbreak.
Now, the middle school counselor is helping girls in Irvine find the same outlet through a program developed by Girls on the Run, a national organization that aims to guide them to better emotional health through running.
Since fall 2014, more than 100 girls at South Lake Middle School, where Hebl works, have participated in the organization’s Heart & Sole program.
The 10-week program has girls run together in the campus’ Irvine neighborhood twice a week. Later, they discuss the lesson connected to their running exercise.
“I remember one time where we all ran in a straight line and the person on the end had to run around us and go to the very front of the line,” said Jana Novakovic, 13.
The message was simple. It was about cooperation.
“If one girl needed to move to the front, we’d slow down so she could get there,” said Camille Hunter, 14. “It was about noticing them and helping them. We’d cheer for each person whenever they ran up to the front.”
So far, the school has operated the program in fall 2014 and the spring and fall of 2015.
For spring 2016, South Lake has 30 girls signed up.
At the end of each program, the young runners put their new strengths to use in a 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) event put on by Girls on the Run at Orange County Great Park in Irvine.
“When I did it, I thought I’d walk the whole time,” said Allie Sheehan, 13, who ran last fall. “But I didn’t. I used to think running was a drag, but I’ve found it can be uplifting to run.”
Hebl first learned of Heart & Sole when she saw it in a catalog for Athleta sportswear, a national sponsor of Girls on the Run. Afterward, she contacted Girls on the Run to see how Heart & Sole could step into South Lake.
“Heart & Sole’s message is not so much about running and being fast but more about just moving forward,” Hebl said. “At this age, these girls will face some tough things, and it’s a time where they’ll need something like this the most. Not just a sport, but an extracurricular activity that’s meaningful to them.”
She said statistics on girls dropping out of sports are alarming.
By age 14, girls drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys, according to studies by the Women’s Sports Foundation. Contributing factors include lack of access, cost and negative social stigma surrounding girls in sports, the foundation said.
Hebl applied for several grants for the program at South Lake, getting about $8,000 from the Irvine Public Schools Foundation so far. She hopes to receive another grant at a foundation awards reception for counselors and teachers Thursday.
The foundation has been able to cover expenses such as 5K registration fees for some students, and Fitbits, wearable fitness monitors to track how many steps runners are taking.
Asics, an Irvine-based athletic equipment company and a partner of Girls on the Run, donated running shoes to every Heart & Sole girl at South Lake in November.
“Before, I ran in my old, beat-up Converse,” said Sam Blake, 14.
“My students always laugh at me when I tell them I’d go for a run whenever I was dumped by a boy,” Hebl said with a smile. “But it’s true. These girls will face different obstacles in life, but I want them to know they can overcome it.”
The 5K for the spring 2016 season will be held May 14 at the Great Park.
