Once they’re not busy coaching or going through off towards one another on the court docket, WNBA gamers Kiki Iriafen (Washington Mystics) and Aneesah Morrow (Connecticut Solar) are partnering up with the Coach Foundation to empower the subsequent technology of scholars.

Providing schooling, mentorship, and neighborhood assist, the Coach Foundation was created to assist younger individuals obtain their desires by eradicating boundaries and creating new alternatives for youths in underserved communities to thrive. Since 2008, the American vogue model’s basis has donated over $75 million {dollars} and awarded over 7,000 scholarships.

“The largest factor in partnering with Coach is being with a model that cares about giving again to others as effectively,” Iriafen tells Teen Vogue in an unique interview. “I’m tremendous excited to be working with youngsters and giving them a chance to obtain their desires. I used to be in a position to be in the WNBA as a result of I had the proper individuals supporting me, so to give you the option to lengthen that to the subsequent technology is tremendous particular.”

Morrow echoes Iriafen’s statements, including that the Coach Foundation “understands that actual progress occurs whenever you put money into genuine relationships and assist methods that final effectively past any single occasion or marketing campaign.”

For Morrow, being a mentor means being a gentle presence that another person can depend on when life will get overwhelming. “I get to be the shoulder they’ll lean on and the voice that reminds them they’re able to greater than they understand,” she tells Teen Vogue.

Studying from her personal mentors—her mother and father and her coaches—Morrow says mentoring is simply as a lot about listening as it’s about giving recommendation. “Typically younger individuals don’t desire to hear options after they share what’s bothering them, they simply want somebody to actually hear them and validate what they are going by way of.”