With Arizona’s literacy rates lagging, former WNBA player and education advocate Helen Darling is stepping in with an unconventional approach — using sports culture and athlete mentorship to reengage young readers.
“What inspired me to connect athletics and literacy through Courtside really started at home,” Darling said. “As a mom of three kids who all learn differently, I had to think outside the box to keep them engaged. What worked best was incorporating sports.”
That insight now drives Courtside, a literacy initiative that blends athletics with reading instruction — turning movement, competition and mentorship into tools for building vocabulary and comprehension.
“When you include movement, kids don’t even realize that while they’re playing, they’re also learning,” Darling said. “Take basketball for example, when you tell a player to pass, dribble or shoot, you’re actually teaching verbs. You’re building vocabulary in a way that feels natural and exciting.”
Engagement as the missing link
Arizona has invested heavily in literacy initiatives, but educators increasingly point to engagement — not access — as the barrier that continues to hold students back.
“At Helios Education Foundation, we believe that proficient reading by the end of third grade is a critical indicator of a child’s future success,” said Barbara Ryan Thompson, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Helios Education Foundation. “Together with the NCAA and the Phoenix Final Four Local Organizing Committee, we’re inspiring thousands of Arizona third graders to discover the joy of reading and build a lifelong love of learning.”
Darling’s model targets that same gap directly.
“I believe athletes are effective literacy mentors because young people are already listening to them,” she said. “They respect them, they want to be like them, and they pay attention to what they say. So when an athlete talks about reading … it carries weight. It makes reading feel relevant.”
That relevance is key in a state where many students disengage from reading early, particularly if they struggle or fail to see its connection to their goals.
Learning in motion
Through Courtside activations — often called “Literature Layups”— students learn vocabulary and literacy concepts while physically moving, combining cognitive and kinesthetic learning.
“How many second-graders do you know can use the word stoic in a sentence? My kids can,” Darling said. “During one of my Literature Layup activations, students learned words like stoic and dynamic while holding a plank — fully engaged, focused and pushing themselves. They weren’t just hearing the words; they were experiencing them. It reinforces a powerful idea: the same way we train our bodies is the same way we should train our minds.”
The approach reflects a shift in education toward experiential learning — meeting students where they are and building skills through context rather than repetition alone.
“When I come into a community, learning becomes active,” she said. “Students are moving, participating and building vocabulary in a way that sticks.”
A growing movement beyond one program
Courtside is not operating in isolation. Across Arizona, the connection between athletics and education is becoming more intentional.
From statewide efforts like Athletes for Arizona, which integrates sports professionals into school-based programming, to university-level academic support systems for student-athletes and inclusion-focused models like Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools, the role of sports in education is expanding beyond the field. These efforts share a common premise: engagement drives learning and athletes can help deliver it.
These efforts align with national trends, where professional leagues and athlete-led nonprofits are expanding literacy outreach — recognizing that influence can be as powerful as instruction.
The common thread: students are more likely to engage when learning is tied to identity, culture and aspiration.
More than access to books
Darling said one of the biggest misconceptions about literacy is that access alone will solve the problem.
“In states like Arizona, where proficiency rates remain low, the issue isn’t just access to books,” she said. “It’s helping students feel connected to reading in a way that is relevant and motivating.”
Her programs (which include Courtside, Literature Layup and Let’s Stay L.I.T.) are designed to complement classroom instruction, not replace it.
“Parents and teachers are already working hard to build strong foundations,” she said. “My programs are simply another tool in their toolbox.”
Building a culture of reading
For long-term change, Darling argues the focus must shift beyond programs to culture.
“We have to build the culture of reading,” she said. “When I was young, reading had a bad name. It was given out as a punishment, instead of being the adventure that it is.”
That cultural shift, she said, is essential to changing outcomes.
“Literacy is not just an academic skill,” Darling said. “It’s a life skill tied to confidence, opportunity and long-term success.”
The opportunity ahead
As Arizona continues to grapple with literacy gaps, programs like Courtside highlight a broader opportunity: leveraging what already captures student attention.
Sports, which are deeply embedded in school and community life, may be one of the most scalable and underutilized tools in education.
By connecting reading to movement, mentorship, real-world role models and evidence-based approaches like the science of reading, initiatives like Courtside are reframing literacy — not as a requirement, but as a pathway.
And in a state where too many students are still falling behind early, that shift could prove critical.
Editor’s note: A grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation made this story possible. The foundation awarded 15 newsrooms to pay for solutions-focused education reporters for two years. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
Stacy Mantle
Education Solutions Reporter
Meet Stacy
Stacy Mantle is joining the team at Independent Newsmedia, Inc. as an Education Solutions journalist, thanks to a grant from the Arizona Community Collaborative. She has a long history in education that ranges from teaching junior high and middle school to developing curriculum and standards-based assessments.
Community: A longtime advocate for animal welfare, Stacy is deeply involved in rescue efforts and volunteers with several nonprofit organizations.
Random Fact: Once upon a time, she shared her home with a pet coyote and two wolf hybrids. The experiences were wild enough to become the subject of her first book!
Education: She holds a BA in English with a minor in Political Science, a Post-baccalaureate in Secondary Education, and an MBA with a emphasis on Marketing.
Hobbies: In her spare time, Stacy writes fast-paced urban fantasy novels, crafts small-batch artisan soap, and is always up for hiking or off-roading through the Arizona wilderness with her husband of 23 years.