When your child moves from grade school to the pre-teen years – ages 10 to 13 – their mind and body undergo significant changes, especially for girls.

Girls experience hormonal changes and, at the same time, their minds experience the most significant growth spurts since they were toddlers. This dual transformation presents challenges in their physical, emotional and social lives.

“The hardest thing about fifth grade is that parts of you change, and you have more emotions,” said Sonia, 11, a student at Scott Elementary School in Greeley, Colorado.

Sonia said those emotions include more sadness, more anger, more happiness and more frustration.

She and many others her age are being given the tools to help through UCHealth’s community benefit program called BstrongBfit, a program that pairs physical fitness – running – with mental resilience.

“I’m able to see now what solutions there are for those emotions,” Sonia said.

A girl empowerment program

The program in northern Colorado helps nurture girls’ growth by centering on health, self-esteem and camaraderie. It is more than just an after-school running club; it is a journey toward holistic well-being. And it is changing lives.

What is BstrongBfit?

“BstrongBfit is 90% social and emotional and 10% running,” said Kim Perales, a school psychologist at Scott Elementary, who has been the school’s BstrongBfit coach for over a decade.

BstrongBfit is an eight-week program providing northern Colorado school districts with 16 evidence-informed lessons about fitness and mental health, with a spotlight on wellness.

UCHealth provides the curriculum, materials and coaches’ training and oversees the organization of a 2-mile race at the end of the eight weeks. While schools are responsible for providing coaches, support from UCHealth ensures that students won’t pay club or race entry fees.

Perales knows all too well the difficulties that come with adolescence and the power of participating in sports. As a young girl, she struggled in school with selective mutism, unable to speak any spontaneous words in the classroom. It wasn’t until she began playing basketball and running cross-country in fifth grade that she found her voice. Those younger years shaped her desire to study special education and psychology and, later, go on to work with elementary school-aged children.

Perales uses the program’s curriculum to help other girls “find their voice” as they navigate their preteen years.

“I tell my student athletes that you cannot really hide from yourself when running,” she said. “All your strengths and flaws show when you are on the race course. Your will, your determination, your self-talk, your sportsmanship, the feeling of wanting to quit, self-doubt — all of it shows up at some point in a race. And so, together as a team, we celebrate our strengths and overcome our difficulties.”

The BstrongBfit clubs meet after school. The class starts with a lesson, journal writing and activities. Then, students head outside for running drills. Coaches often place positive affirmation signs for the girls to read along their run: “I feel good about myself.” “You are worth working hard for.” “I choose to be amazing.” “Celebrate small successes.”

“Low self-esteem and body issues are already surfacing at such a young age,” said JoAnn Rosebrock, the BstrongBfit coach in Platteville, Colorado, where the program is offered to fourth- and fifth-grade girls in the fall.

“Programs like this help us communicate positive reinforcement in an age-appropriate way. It gets them through that early puberty. Fostering that in a group of girls is super important at a time when it is the beginning of ‘she said, she said’ and cliques. It’s a time when messages and images are not kid-friendly, but they are kid accessible.”

The BstrongBfit curriculum includes teambuilding activities and discussions about bullying, body image and social media.

“Social-emotional learning at this age is super important. I know I could have used that,” Rosebrock said.

Participants self-reflect in a weekly journal and set goals for running and their daily lives.

“It’s an incredible program that had a lot of research and thought put into it, and UCHealth is supportive every step of the way,” Perales said. “The health and education pieces are incredible. The social-emotional pieces are also very good, and I feel like any educator can implement them.”

Scott Elementary extends BstrongBfit to fifth-grade girls during the fall. The program provides flexibility for schools to decide whether to offer it in spring or fall, with about 12-14 schools participating each season. This results in an overall engagement of about 400 participants throughout the year.

“By offering BstrongBfit to fifth graders, we are catching them on the cusp or in the middle of puberty,” Perales said. “They are dealing with friendships and body changes, so we are getting in front of those challenges but not so far in front of them that it is not relatable.”

At Scott Elementary, the program’s structure has become so popular that Perales created additional running groups for fourth graders, and she coaches spring run clubs for fifth-grade boys and girls.

“It works well because BstrongBfit gives the girls the health and nutrition base of information and the initial plug-in to running, and then we build our family up from there the rest of the year,” Perales said.

Perales relies on her own lesson plans and materials for the other clubs. Still, strengthening one’s mental character through running remains consistent across all programs.

“Without BstrongBfit, I would not have done any of the other coaching or running clubs at Scott,” Perales said.

Program changes lives by empowering girls with lifelong skills

Many girls who join BstrongBfit have never been part of a club or participated in organized athletics.

Fifth-grader and BstrongBfit participant Navaya said her brother, who plays soccer, is the “runner” in their family.

“I admit, I was lazy,” she said. “But I picked myself up and really started to enjoy running.”

Sonia’s father encouraged her to join the program.

“He saw how I could run and thought it would be good for me,” she said. “And he said the experience would be a good match for my personality and energy.”

However, the club has proven to be more beneficial to her than simply being an outlet for energy.

“I’ve learned so much about myself,” Sonia said. “I’m energetic and don’t like giving up. I’m very competitive and enjoy being outside.”

She said it helped her realize how important it is to surround herself with people who make her feel good about herself, and her teammates in BstrongBfit are some of those people.

“This group helps each other a lot and encourages each other,” she said.

Maise, 11, also participated in BstrongBfit at Scott Elementary. She’s now a sixth grader and reflects on the program’s impact.

“I really enjoyed feeling part of a team. I didn’t really fit in in my classroom, but I fit in there,” Maise said.

At the time, Maise hadn’t tried running before, so she said her expectations for herself were low. But to her surprise, she enjoyed running and continues to run competitively and for fun today.

“I wanted to keep running because it was a new and fun experience. It got me to push myself and made me a better person,” she said.

Maise’s mom, Karin, also saw the club’s impact on her daughter.

“It made school last year more bearable and gave her a positive experience each week with her peers because there was not a lot of interaction with them during the day,” Karin said. “The program promoted positive interactions between the girls and taught them about having conversations that are personal and keeping them in trust.

“I did see her get her confidence back as she got better at running each time,” Karin continued. “I strongly believe that athletics at a young age should be good for your mental health. She would come home feeling good about ‘run club.’ It was good for her to have that way to find herself and find her confidence again.”

Rosebrock said the camaraderie created among participants is undeniable.

“The girls have a ton of fun and really bond as a family,” she said. “They are there to support each other and can look at every face in the group and know that is someone they can go to in this school, a safe person, someone they’re connected to.

“It’s not an easy time for kids, and knowing they are not alone in what they’re going through is an awesome, eye-opening and supportive environment for them.”

Perales agreed: “We are changing lives,” she said.