The 2012 KB4girls kiteboarding season in review
TAMPA/KAHULUI, December, 31st 2012: With the goal of empowering girls and women all around the world through the sport of kiteboarding, the KB4girls Foundation continued their quest of running non-profit and fundraising events around the globe. In 2012, a year of growth and expansion, a total 6 GLOBAL and 102 CHAPTER KB4girls events were run worldwide and the foundation was officially recognized by the IKA (International Kiteboarding Association).
The 6 GLOBAL KB4girls events of the season were held in Sydney/Australia, Pranburi/Thailand, San Francisco/USA, El Gouna/Egypt, Lancing/Great Britain and New York/USA. In these events, pro trainers passed on their skills to the participating girls and women, coached them through and for kiteboarding competitions and taught beginners how to kite – all this with the aim of empowering females around the world through kiteboarding and to help them find more self confidence, drive and courage.
At the KB4girls GLOBAL events each of the participants raised funds for a specific cause through personal fundraising pages on the KB4girls.org website. The partnering charities for the 2012 KB4girls GLOBAL events included Aim for the Stars, Girls Inc. of the Island City, Hope Village, St. Barnabas Hospice and STEPS to End Family Violence. An incredible $150,000 was raised for the various causes with the largest amount of funds raised during the Dream Extreme KB4girls Event on Long Island/New York.
In addition to the KB4girls GLOBAL events, the KB4girls local chapters all around the world contributed an incredible contribution on their own. After releasing the KB4girls CHAPTER program in November 2011, the foundation has signed on a total of 25 KB4girls chapters to date and welcomes more.
Each chapter is run by one or more KB4girls local ambassadors who organize female kite clinics or other get-togethers free of charge during their kiteboarding season. Thanks to the amazing work of the KB4girls ambassadors, a total of 102 KB4girls chapter events were run in 2012 – an incredible number.
KB4girls founder and president Kristin Boese states: “I don’t think we would have ever dared to hope for over 100 KB4girls chapter events to be run this year and I can’t even put into words our appreciation for all the work our fabulous chapter ambassadors have put in to make this season such a special one for the KB4girsl foundation.
“It is such a great feeling to now be part of a true global network of amazing female kiters – and even more so that KB4girls has become exactly that. Thank you so much to everyone that is helping to fulfill the mission of the KB4girls foundation and is doing so much good,” she added.
On top of the chapter and event success of the season, the KB4girls foundation also became officially recognized by the IKA (International Kiteboarding Association) on July 30, 2012. The IKA has announced KB4girls to be the official women’s program to promote and support the sport of kiteboarding and foster its development. As part of the cooperation, the KB4girls local chapters will be able to work more closely with their national kiteboarding associations in the future.
The KB4girls foundation looks back at yet another successful year and would like to pass on very special thanks to the KTA, BKSA, SportsFeatures.com, Tramontana Grafixx, Solutions New York, Ideenwerft, SBC Kiteboard, Kiteworld as well as the R.K. Melon Family Foundation.
KB4Girls is proudly supported by its founding sponsors Best Kiteboarding and DaKine as well as Baby-G and Elemental Herbs.
About KB4girls
KB4girls is a foundations that empowers females through the sport of kiteboarding and was launched in November 2009 by 9x Kiteboarding World Champion Kristin Boese. While the international and local clinic events gives female athletes from around the world the chance to get together for a fun and female experience it also motivates them to push their kiteboarding skills to the next level and empowers them in a very special way.
Another goal of the KB4girls events is to support local charities that reach out to females in need which is done through fundraising at the KB4girls events.