Global academic and athletic development institution, IMG Academy, has announced the formation of the Women in Sports Committee, with the goal of improving accessibility and participation for young women and girls in sport.

The Committee will see members develop programs and initiatives to provide more opportunities and access for women in sport, with members to provide scholarships in their name for young women to attend the IMG Academy.

IMG Academy president, Brent Richard, said the Committee will extend the work of the IMG Academy, with scholarships also to be provided for IMG Academy’s recruiting services product, Next College Student Athlete (NCSA).

“We are humbled and honored to welcome these incredible women to our Women in Sports Committee,” Richard said.

“They have worked tirelessly to not only blaze their own paths, but to also lay the groundwork for those who follow.

“Sports is a platform to develop lifelong skills.

“Findings have shown that 94% of C-suite female executives played a sport, and 52% played at the collegiate level or higher.

“We look forward to working together to bring sport, and the important life and leadership skills it generates, into the lives of more young women,” he said.

The inaugural members of the Women in Sports Committee include host of ‘NFL Next Live’ among other sports shows, Cari Champion, founder, chairwoman, and CEO of The Garcia Companies, along with high-level leadership positions in the XFL, Seven Bucks Productions and GSTQ, Dany Garcia, former professional tennis player, Lindsay Davenport, Olympic gold medal-winning alpine ski racer, Lindey Vonn, NBC NFL sideline reporter, Michele Tafoya, and ABC co-anchor, Robin Roberts.

Among the goals of the Committee are to address several key metrics around participation, access/affordability, and leadership positions.

In the announcement, IMG identified 40% of teenage girls are not actively participating in a sport, boys receive 1.13 million more sport opportunities than girls, 72% of youth sports coaches are men, and 95% of total sport television coverage and 91% of online coverage in the US in 2019 focused on men’s sport.