Carrie Underwood Encourages Hometown Girls in CALIA Video

Home is where the heart is and Carrie Underwood returned home to talk to young girls about where their hearts lie within sports.

The country star went back to her roots in Checotah, Oklahoma, to get to know three high school aged girls and learn about their devotion to the sport of their choice and how important it is to be empowered through the competitive activities. As a former athlete herself, Underwood could relate to each one of them and knows how strong the community of her hometown is in supporting young women to get active.

“It’s probably the only place in the world that I truly feel at peace,” Underwood narrates as she runs the track at her high school alma mater.

Meeting three girls from the tiny town who compete in sports such as softball, track and horseback riding, Underwood focuses on the idea that sports can help positively mold girls into the determined young women they dream to be in their futures. She reflects on the lessons that sports can teach on and off the playing field.

“Sports gives young women so many life lessons that they will carry with them forever. You learn how to win, you learn how to lose. It teaches you how to be a part of a team. It teaches you how to be proud of yourself,” the country singer explains.

As the video explores more of the hometown feel for Underwood and shows her connecting with each of the girls in a different light, she becomes emotional over how much of an uplifting impact her home put upon her, from the basketball court to the genuine connectivity of her community.

“Confidence is something we should be encouraging and teaching our young women,” she reflects, teary-eyed. Lifting them up and helping them figure out what path they want to be on, that everything is possible. I think I would want to tell 14-year-old Carrie that all of the things that you think matter so much, someday you won’t really think about,” she says, holding back tears. “It’s all gonna work out pretty awesome. I consider myself so lucky and I’m so thankful that I have so many wonderful people around me and I always have. My parents and this town. They’ve always been behind me.”

The video is a part of CALIA by Carrie Underwood’s initiative with Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation to encourage young women to be confident and play a sport to empower themselves. As a part of their work to inspire girls, both companies are donating $500,000 to support girls’ sports. CALIA by Carrie Underwood is currently sold at Dick’s Sporting Goods stores.