DENVER – The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) participated in the first-ever Girls in the Game event hosted by CBS Colorado and the University of Denver Athletics at DU’s Hamilton Gym Saturday morning.
CHSAA Associate Commissioner Bethany Brookens served on the Leadership in Sports panel, which was moderated by former CHSAA Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green, where she talked about the importance of mentors and finding female mentors, specifically. She noted that her mom was one of her first mentors and recognized that the opportunities women have today didn’t exist for her mom when she was growing up.
“My very first mentor was my mom,” Brookens shared. “She wrote me a letter – that I still remember – and placed it on my bed when I graduated. She simply wrote ‘Thank you for playing sports in high school. I was never given that opportunity and through you, I was able to share that experience with you.’ That was so significant for me. She would love to have played football, she’s the powderpuff queen, she says… she would have played every single sport, but she was never able to that.”
In addition to Brookens, CHSAA’s Assistant Commissioner Jenn Roberts-Uhlig, Director of Finance Sarah Vernon-Brunner, Director of Communications Amanda McClure, Coordinator of Sport Colette Stone and Sports Management Intern Brakelle Westphal also partook in the day, talking with attendees about what CHSAA is, what sports they participate in and answered questions about how the CHSAA staff got involved with working in sports.
The event was free and the first of its kind here in Denver. It featured women working in sports journalism, sports marketing, coaching, strength training, operations, sports medicine and much more. Organizations such as CASA FC Albion SC, Children’s Hospital, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Golf Association, Colorado Rapids, Colorado Rockies, Colorado Soccer Foundation, Denver Bandits, Denver Nuggets, Denver Women’s Sports Collective, Girl Scouts of Colorado, Gold Crown Foundation, PRCA Pro Rodeo, Special Olympics, Sportswomen of Colorado and the YMCA of Metro Denver all participated, in addition to a variety of universities in Colorado: Air Force, CU Boulder, University of Denver, MSU Denver, Regis University and Western Colorado University.