SportsCARE Is Building a Safer, More Equitable Future for Every Female Athlete
We advance the health, safety and well-being of female athletes through research, education and community partnerships.
Working with
Sara Pardej, PhDSara Pardej, PhD
Partners
Built with Partners, for Every Girl Athlete
SportsCARE works with researchers, advocates, wrestling programs and gear makers so support reaches girls on every team, not just one.
Research partner
Sara Pardej, PhD
Sports psychology researcher at Stanford and Gonzaga. Co-wrote the policy brief and endorsed SportsCARE.
Advocacy
Women's Sports Foundation
Reviewed the policy brief and gave feedback on its focus on menstrual health and injury.
Chapter partner
Her Path USA
Grace leads a Her Path chapter, home of the first Know Your Cycle workshops.
Wrestling
Beat the Streets National
Grows youth wrestling in underserved communities. Invited Grace to its Nov 21 tournament and May conference.
Grant recipient
Dwight Morrow High School
Englewood, NJ. Its wrestling team received SportsCARE's first $500 grant, for new uniforms.
Uniform partner
KopyKatz
A women's wrestling project raising money for women's-cut singlets and gear for girls' teams.
What we do
We Work for a Sustainable Future for All Athletes
01
Assess Teams and Athletes
Athletes take the short, anonymous CARE survey. The CARE Score shows each team's needs across Community, Adaptive training, Recovery and Emotional wellbeing.
Our policy brief asks states for standard menstrual-health accommodations in school sports, with the Women's Sports Foundation, Her Path and Beat the Streets.
What coaches, parents and athletes ask us most. Anything else, email Grace.
SportsCARE is a nonprofit founded by Grace Kim, a wrestler at Phillips Academy Andover. We measure what female high school athletes need, teach teams to support them, fund girls' programs and push for policy change.
Community, Adaptive training, Recovery and Emotional wellbeing: the four parts of the athlete experience the survey measures.
Athletes answer a short, anonymous survey. The team gets a score out of 100 across the four pillars, and the score places the team in one of three bands: Intervention (0–39), Developing (40–69) or High Functioning (70–100).
Each band has its own guide. The team works through it with a coach, athletic trainer or counselor, then retakes the survey to see what changed.
A trusted adult: a coach, athletic trainer, counselor or SportsCARE leader, never athletes on their own. No one is asked to share anything personal in a group, and medical questions go to a doctor or trainer.
Yes. Responses are anonymous and reported for the team as a whole, not for individual athletes.
Underfunded girls' wrestling programs. Grants are $250–500 and come with a 30-minute education session for the team. The first went to Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, NJ; Title I schools in Massachusetts are next. Email Grace to ask about your program.
Take the CARE survey with your team, bring a guide to your school, share the policy brief with your athletic director or state association, or donate to fund the next grant.
The CARE Curriculum
Take the Survey Get the Guide Your Team Needs
Athletes take the CARE survey and the team gets a score out of 100. The score places the team in one of three bands, and each band has its own guide: lessons, team activities and a plan the team can start that week.
2The team gets a score out of 100 across the four CARE pillars
3The score picks the guide: Intervention, Development or Optimization
4The team works through it with a coach or trainer, then retakes the survey
What athletes told us
Girls Rated Their Recovery and Mental-Health Support Lower Than Boys Did
The CARE survey reached 117 high school athletes in 30 states in May 2026. The guides are built from what they said.
Where Girls Feel Less Supported
GirlsBoys
Share who agree or strongly agree.
What Athletes Say Would Help
Share of surveyed athletes choosing each option.
Method: anonymous online survey of current and recent U.S. high school athletes, May 7, 2026. Questions use a five-point scale. "Agree" means a 4 or 5.
The guides
Three Bands Three Guides
Find your team's score, open the guide. Each one is a workbook the whole team works through with a coach, trainer or counselor.
Guides are led by a coach, athletic trainer, counselor or SportsCARE leader, never by athletes alone. No one is asked to share anything personal in a group. Medical questions go to a doctor or trainer, and any safety concern goes straight to the school's designated adult.
Policy brief · 2026
Title IX Opened the Door Support Didn't Follow
Our policy brief, Standardized Menstrual Health Accommodations in Sports, by Grace Kim and Sara Pardej, PhD: the research behind it, and eight steps for state education departments and athletic associations.
SportsCARE is a student-led nonprofit working to make school sports safer and more supportive for female athletes, through research, education, grants and policy.
Grace KimFounder
Meet the founder
Grace Kim
Grace is a wrestler and a senior at Phillips Academy Andover. At Andover she wrestles on a team where the girls are often outnumbered and most tournaments are co-ed.
Her first serious injury showed her how the system really works. She did rehab beside five other injured wrestlers. There was one overworked trainer, no recovery plan of her own and no mental-health support.
"I felt like the training program doesn't really account for the differences between the male and female body."Grace Kim
SportsCARE is her answer. She designed the four-part CARE survey, analyzed 20 years of national injury data, co-wrote a policy brief with Sara Pardej, PhD, started a Her Path chapter and raised $3,000 for girls' wrestling.
What CARE stands for
Four Pillars of Athlete Support
C
Community
Teammates, coaches and staff who make every athlete feel she belongs.
A
Adaptive Training
Training built around each athlete's body, including her cycle.
R
Recovery
Structured rehab, real recovery tools and a safe return to play.
E
Emotional Wellbeing
Knowing where to go, and feeling safe asking for help.
Our journey
From One Athlete's Question to Every Girl Athlete
2023
The Question Starts
Why are training plans built around boys? A student research team starts asking.
2024
The Gap Shows Up
A founder's injury shows how little support injured girls get: one trainer, no plan.
2025
SportsCARE Is Founded
An entrepreneurship idea becomes four pillars: Community, Adaptive training, Recovery and Emotional wellbeing.
Spring 2026
First Team Pilot
Recovery tools proposed for a girls' wrestling program.
May 2026
117 Athletes, 30 States
The CARE survey hears from athletes across the country.
Summer 2026
20 Years of Injury Data
National records show where girls get hurt more.
Aug 2026
Policy Brief and First Chapter Partner
Eight recommendations written with Sara Pardej, PhD. A Her Path chapter launches the first workshops.
Sep 2026
First Grant
$3,000 raised. $500 to Dwight Morrow High School's wrestling team.
Oct 2026
Partners Join
Beat the Streets and KopyKatz bring SportsCARE to more coaches and teams.
Nov 2026
Workshops with Beat the Streets
Sharing what athletes told us with Massachusetts wrestling coaches and teams.
May 2027
On the National Stage
SportsCARE presents at Beat the Streets' women's wrestling conference.
On the mat
Where It All Started
Phillips Academy girls' wrestling highlights, featuring Grace Kim '27Grace with the Andover girls' wrestling teamGrace Kim '27 on the mat
Her first tournamentGrace wins by pinHome with the Andover team
Get involved
If You Don't Measure the Athlete Experience, You Can't Improve It
Take the CARE survey with your team, bring the guides to your school, or help fund girls' programs.
PDF · 28 pages
PDF · 34 pages
PDF · 32 pages
