🎙️ Confidence, Curiosity, and Grit: What Sports (and a 2,200-Mile Hike) Teach Our Girls

A conversation with Marci Kornegay that every parent, coach, and mentor needs to hear

There are some podcast conversations you enjoy.

And then there are conversations that stay with you.

My time with Marci Kornegay on the Generation Youth Podcast was the second kind.

Marci is a former collegiate golfer. A coach. A founder. And—just casually—a woman who decided hiking the entire Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia sounded like a reasonable life decision.

You know. Normal Tuesday stuff.

But what struck me most wasn’t the résumé.

It was the conviction behind it.

Because beneath every story she shared was one central belief:

Sports and the outdoors are not about trophies. They are about identity.

And that matters deeply right now.

The Real Win Isn’t the Scoreboard

I’ve worked with thousands of teenagers over the years. When you strip away the noise, the awards, the grades, the highlight reels, what they’re really asking is:

• Am I capable?

• Do I belong?

• What am I made of?

For young women especially, those questions get amplified.

Social media magnifies comparison.
Performance culture equates value with visibility.
And too many girls quietly decide, “Maybe I’m just not that type.”

Marci has seen it up close as a coach.

She told me that sports gave her confidence that spilled into classrooms, leadership roles, and life decisions. Not because she won everything. But because she did hard things.

That’s the difference.

Sports done right become a training ground for courage.

They teach girls to:

• Speak up.

• Try again.

• Compete without losing their character.

• Fail without losing their identity.

That’s not extracurricular.

That’s foundational.

Why Seeing Women Lead Matters

Marci’s journey didn’t stop at playing.

She coached at the collegiate level. She worked alongside organizations like WeCOACH to support female coaches. And she saw something important:

Representation changes imagination.

When girls see women leading—analyzing performance, running programs, building organizations—it expands what they believe is possible.

It’s one thing to tell a girl she can lead.

It’s another thing for her to watch someone doing it.

And that visibility doesn’t just impact athletics.

It reshapes how girls see themselves in business, STEM, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

🚀 Inside the Girls Sport Collective

That conviction led Marci to create the Girls Sport Collective.

And I love this approach.

Because it isn’t built only for elite athletes.

It’s built for all girls. All sports. All levels.

Here’s what makes it different:

They use performance-based analytics—timing gates, jump plates, movement data—not just to track improvement, but to spark curiosity.

Think about that for a second.

A girl comes in to improve her speed or vertical jump.

She leaves curious about biomechanics, data analysis, sports science.

Now we’re not just building athletes.

We’re building thinkers.

We’re opening doors to STEM fields that many girls might never have considered.

That’s powerful.

Because confidence grows when competence grows.

And competence grows when curiosity gets room to breathe.

2,200 Miles of Grit

Now let’s talk about the Appalachian Trail.

Over 2,200 miles.

Rain. Mud. Loneliness. Blisters that probably deserved their own zip code.

And somewhere in that journey, she developed a principle I wish every teenager would adopt:

“Never quit on a bad day.”

That’s gold.

Because bad days distort perspective.

A tough practice.
A bad grade.
A social setback.
An injury.
A mistake.

If you quit on a bad day, you’re making a permanent decision based on temporary emotion.

But if you stay long enough to see a good day?

Clarity returns.

Confidence rebuilds.

Strength compounds.

I’ve seen this pattern repeatedly with teenagers. The ones who thrive aren’t the ones who avoid difficulty.

They’re the ones who stay in the arena long enough to outlast the doubt.

The trail taught Marci that.

And she’s now teaching it to girls who may never hike 2,200 miles—but will absolutely face their own mountains.

Thriving in the Unknown

One phrase she used during our conversation stuck with me:

“Thriving in the unknown.”

That’s the future.

Our kids are stepping into a world that changes faster than any generation before them.

Jobs shift.
Technology evolves.
Cultural norms fluctuate.

The ability to step into something unfamiliar without shrinking—that’s a superpower.

Sports and outdoor experiences create controlled environments where girls can practice that skill.

New team.
New role.
New trail.
New challenge.

Each one whispers the same message:

“You can handle more than you think.”

And when a girl believes that?

Watch out.

Parents, Coaches, and Mentors: This Is Our Moment

If you’re a parent reading this, here’s the takeaway:

Don’t just ask, “Did you win?”

Ask:

• What did you learn?

• What challenged you?

• What surprised you about yourself?

If you’re a coach:

Measure more than stats.

Measure courage.
Measure effort.
Measure growth.

If you’re mentoring young women:

Give them space to try.
Space to fail.
Space to lead.

And maybe occasionally remind them that hiking 2,200 miles is technically optional.

The Bigger Picture

Here’s what I walked away with after talking with Marci:

When we give girls opportunities in sports and the outdoors, we are not just shaping athletes.

We are shaping identity.

We are teaching:

• Confidence through action.

• Curiosity through exposure.

• Grit through persistence.

And in a world that constantly tries to define young women by appearance, approval, and algorithms…

Helping them discover their strength might be one of the most important things we can do.

Confidence isn’t handed out.

It’s built.

Curiosity isn’t automatic.

It’s ignited.

Grit isn’t inherited.

It’s practiced.

And sometimes it starts with a golf club.

Sometimes it starts with a data sensor.

And sometimes it starts with a long trail that looks impossible until you take the first step.

One step at a time.

Just like leadership.
Just like identity.
Just like life.