According to today.com, 13 years ago Theresa Roden competed in her first triathlon and loved what she learned about herself during the training and racing for the triathlon. She began to wonder how beneficial it would have been if she would have gained this insight about herself at 11 or 12 rather then in her thirties when she ran her first triathlon. According to Roden that’s when an idea struck, “I realized just how hard that time of life is, I just thought, ‘Gosh if we could empower girls at this age and give them all the tools and training and the love and support necessary to do a really big goal like doing a triathlon, giving them the confidence to set a big goal and achieving that, it can change everything.’” Since racing in 2005, Roden has trained girls for free to compete in triathlons through her program, I-TRI. The program focuses on girls 11-14 from 12 schools around Sag Harbor, New York, to help them train to swim 300 yards, bike seven miles, and run one and a half miles total. While it may seem like a lot to take on, the program teaches young girls self-confidence and the feeling of pure satisfaction from accomplishing tough tasks such as a triathlon. “We empower them at that middle school age, 11, 12, 13, where they’re so open to learning, We teach them that you can be, do … anything you set your mind to.” Roden stated.
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