NIL for good: 10 college stars help PUMA celebrate International Day of the Girl

There have been countless stories about how NIL is negatively impacting college sports, including how Senators are attempting to curb the prevalence of inducements in recruiting. Yet, for every negative NIL story out there, there are deals that create positivity. Take last week’s deal between 10 female student-athletes and PUMA.

PUMA teamed up with 10 soccer players, golfers and basketball players from USC, UCLA and Pepperdine through a NIL deal to celebrate International Day of the Girl. As part of the agreement, each athlete was gifted PUMA apparel and paid for their time working the clinic. The deal was brokered by MarketPryce.

Involved in the deal were:

• UCLA basketball player Dominique Onu
• UCLA basketball player Camryn Brown
• USC soccer player Angeles Escobar
• USC soccer player Savannah Kessler
• Pepperdine golfer Reese Guzman
• Pepperdine basketball player Marly Walls
• Pepperdine basketball player Helena Friend
• Pepperdine golfer Kaleiya Romero
• Pepperdine soccer player Trinity Watson
• Pepperdine soccer player Leyla McFarland

PUMA clinic hosted around 100 girls

As part of the deal, the 10 players helped PUMA host its first-ever clinic celebrating International Day of the Girl. The clinic took place last week at the Boys & Girls Club of William Mead in West San Gabriel Valley.

“The athletes acted as coaches for about 100 girls from the sixth to the 10th grade,” Dakota Crawford of MarketPryce told On3. “These 10 competitors came together along with professional women athletes to run a clinic teaching soccer, basketball and golf skills.”

The Boys & Girls Club of William Mead said the girls were thankful for the opportunity to learn from the college stars. The organization said the student-athletes provided the girls with diverse backgrounds and family connections all over the world a chance to learn “about the importance of being a female athlete.”

The student-athletes involved in the deal said they were thankful for the opportunity to give back.

“It was such an amazing opportunity,” Kessler said. “Thank you MarketPryce for allowing me to inspire the next generation of female athletes in athletes in honor of International Day of the Girl.”

PUMA ramping up NIL efforts

PUMA continues to make a splash in the NIL space.

In mid-September, the athletic apparel company signed LSU freshman women’s basketball player and hip-hop star Flau’Jae Johnson to a sneaker deal with Puma. Then Puma inked high schoolers Mia and Mya Pauldo to NIL footwear and apparel deals.

The sneaker shop has also recently signed LaMelo Ball, Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton. Now they’ve signed three women’s basketball players who could be the face of the college game in the coming years. Plus, with the deal to help spread positivity to the next generation of female student-athletes, it’s clear PUMA is committed to the space.