Our Story

For the Love of the Game

We are Tori Nelson and Myah Selland, current and former members of the South Dakota State University Women’s Basketball team. We have always had a passion for women’s sports. Our passion for sports began early as we were both surrounded by families that opened the door for us to sports. We found great joy from being active. As we got older, our families continued to encourage us and foster our love for games. With the help of our families, we had the chance to attend different sports camps, where we fell deeper in love with sports, and also began to realize the opportunity that sports offered. 

As we’ve gotten to live out our dreams of competing at the highest level, we have become more and more passionate about the role sports can play in a young girl’s life. The importance of participating in sports at a young age cannot be overstated, especially in young girls. Unfortunately, girls face unique challenges in sports participation. Statistically, they have fewer opportunities to get involved, are less likely to play in the first place, and are much more likely to drop out earlier if they do. On the contrary, girls who do have the opportunity to participate in sports reap benefits such as improved mental and physical health, and learn valuable lessons pertaining to hard work, collaboration, and teamwork. Along our own athletic journeys, we’ve learned the importance of these things, while also developing skills such as leadership, time-management, relationship building, and overcoming adversity. Sports have undoubtedly empowered us to be the women we are today. We dream of empowering more young girls through sporting opportunities.

Unfortunately, sports participation is becoming more and more burdensome on families. Sport experiences are expensive, time-consuming, and often require special equipment. We understand our privilege to have grown up in families who had the means to provide sport experiences for us. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for all girls, including girls within the Brookings community. Our shared passions led us to dreaming of ways to make a difference in a meaningful way. 

As student-athletes in Brookings, we have seen how special the people of this community are. We’ve benefited greatly from their support and have been inspired by their generosity. We believe Her Turn can provide a platform to uplift the young girls in our community and empower them to be the leaders of tomorrow.