Student-athletes inspire young girls to participate in sports

Myah Selland and Tori Nelson, both exercise science/community and public health majors, will be part of Jackrabbits women’s basketball lore for years. Careers that included winning conference championships, playing in NCAA tournaments and winning a WNIT championship are only part of their story.

Selland and Nelson’s legacy will extend beyond the court to the Brookings community and the hundreds of young girls they helped by creating opportunities for them to grow and develop through participation in sports.

In February 2022, the duo created Her Turn, a nonprofit organization with the goal of sending middle school girls from socio-economically challenged families who are enrolled in the Brookings School District free-and-reduced lunch program to SDSU summer basketball, volleyball or soccer camps.

The program is designed to allow young girls the opportunity to benefit from improved mental and physical health through participating in sports while learning valuable lessons pertaining to hard work, collaboration and teamwork. Selland and Nelson found support throughout the Brookings community, in particular the Brookings Foundation.

The launch of Her Turn came during summer 2022. Nearly 60 individuals donated to the organization, with 10 students being selected for summer camps by an advisory committee that included Carleen Holm and Chad Adamson, from the Brookings School District, and Erinn Thomas, then teen director at the Boys & Girls Club of Brookings.

Guidance and support came from SDSU faculty September Kirby and Jessica Meendering, who helped connect Selland and Nelson to Kurt Osborne, director of the Brookings Foundation.

In addition to registration fees, Her Turn scholarships address other barriers that typically prevent participation like transportation, shoes, equipment and hygiene items and snacks for campers who stayed on campus.

The motivation to start Her Turn came from Selland and Nelson’s own experience, not one where they went without but just the opposite.

“Our passion for sports began early as we were both surrounded by families that opened the door to sports for us,” Selland said. “Unfortunately, sports participation is becoming more and more burdensome on families. Sports experiences are expensive, time-consuming and often require special equipment.