StrongHER Camp in Chattanooga
In March 2022, we kicked off the first official StrongHER Camp in Chattanooga with our friends at Chattanooga FC and Operation Get Active.
In the course of the program, VfL Wolfsburg coaches are sent to Chattanooga twice a year to conduct 10-week soccer camps. Each camp provides 30 girls from local communities with free access to a quality coaching experience as well as individual mentoring on site. Interested participants are also given the opportunity to receive free coaching training including certification from VfL Wolfsburg.
StrongHER scholarship
VfL Wolfsburg has launched the StrongHER Scholarship Program in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as an extension of its StrongHER initiative, which began in March 2022. This program aims to empower girls from disadvantaged backgrounds by providing access to free soccer training, mentoring, and education. In collaboration with Aptiv and Chattanooga State Community College, the scholarship offers participants the opportunity to pursue higher education, with financial support ensuring accessibility. The first two recipients are set to begin their academic journeys in the fall semester of 2023. This initiative exemplifies the positive impact of cross-sector collaboration in promoting education and sports among underserved communities.
Meet our coaches
The StrongHER Camp is only possible thanks to our great coaches. They bring their experience and empathy to the program and respond to the individual needs of the participants.
Coach
Addy Cronan
Soccer has been a part of Addy's life ever since she can remember. She is thankful that coaching for StrongHer has allowed her to stay involved in the beautiful game, while merging it with her passion for empowering girls and women to live the life they were created to live despite the negative influence of societal standards. Addy remarked that she wouldn't trade this experience or these girls for anything.
Coach
Sarah Harter
Sarah has played soccer her whole life but didn’t start coaching until she volunteered with the CFC Foundation and eventually was invited to be a part of the launch of StrongHER. She played an important role in the pilot season of the program as she was the only coach on staff who had already built relationships with many of the players. She says being a part of StrongHer has been so much fun and she has loved getting to know the girls and supporting them on and off the field.
Coach
Carter Steedly
Carter especially appreciates the importance of StrongHER as she started her own soccer career when she was in middle school, the same age that makes up the StrongHER team. She is passionate about helping girls at that age pursue soccer and stay active. Carter lives down the street from the fields where the team trains, so she is able to support the girls and their families outside of soccer as well!
Experience report Chattanooga 2022
In the late summer of 2022, I was able to gain an insight into VfL Wolfsburg's exciting StrongHer project at its partner club, Chattanooga FC, in the USA. As a trainer educator, I mainly accompanied VfL's StrongHer initiative at the Chattanooga Foundation, in addition to other projects, and was in communication with the trainers on site.
The StrongHer project gives socially disadvantaged girls from the region in and around Chattanooga, (Tennessee) access to soccer, which teaches them about community, social interaction in sports, and team sports characteristics such as fair play, respect and equality. In addition, the girls learn what it means to play on a team, to follow rules, to make their own decisions, and to feel a sense of belonging to a group. With two training sessions a week as well as a game day day on the weekend, the girls repeatedly gain new experiences in working together on and off the pitch. They are divided into fixed training groups according to age and have a coach as a permanent point of contact. The interaction of the coaches in the training sessions was very positive, and their positive, educational and motivating coaching sparked a lot of joy in the girls. It was great to see how much fun the players had in the training sessions and with StrongHer VfL shirts, there was a great sense of belonging.
Our strong partners
Chattanooga FC
Chattanooga Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. Established in 2009, the team is currently in its third season in the recently founded National independent Soccer Association (NISA), one of the two third-tier national divisions. In early 2019, the club made history by becoming the first soccer club in America to offer its fans ownership shares as part of a public crowdfunding program. Following the completion of the crowdfunding, some 3,254 fans from 30 different countries are currently shareholders in Chattanooga FC. Since they were founded, the team have played their home games at their local Finley Stadium. The team's colours are navy blue and white.
OGA
Operation Get Active is a health initiative that uses the game of soccer to encourage Chattanooga's youth to live active, healthy lifestyles and aims to inspire and educate children across Chattanooga about the importance of health, fitness, and nutrition. OGA is part of the CFC foundation and uses soccer to promote the well-being of children and young people. For StrongHER, OGA manages the identification of participants and the organization on site.
The Volkswagen
Belegschaftsstiftung
The Volkswagen Belegschaftsstiftung is a charitable nonprofit organization established in 2011 as a non-profit foundation by our founder, Volkswagen AG. The work focuses on socially disadvantaged children and young people in the vicinity of the Volkswagen Group's worldwide locations. The Volkswagen Belegschaftsstiftung seeks to improve their living conditions through sustainable aid projects, such as StrongHER - and thus give them the chance of a self-determined life.
With StrongHER, we are jointly sending a strong signal for greater equality of opportunity. Together with VfL Wolfsburg, we are creating spaces for confidence, physical activity, and new perspectives.Angela Kasper, Chairwoman of the Board, Volkswagen Belegschaftsstiftung
