As she entered her 10th grade year at Sidwell Friends School in D.C., Caroline Mohamadi had just finished an internship with a local nonprofit that inspired her.
The nonprofit, Leveling The Playing Field, collects donated sports equipment and other items and distributes them to schools, kids and families that may benefit from them. Mohamadi noticed many people stopped by the warehouse looking for equipment.
What became clear, Mohamadi said, was the organization could benefit from getting new equipment by encouraging more people to donate.
That realization prompted Mohamadi to start 鈥淧lay it Forward,鈥� a school-based club that aims to remove equipment cost as a barrier for kids who want to play sports. Collectively, the group has gathered 900 pieces of used sports equipment, which Mohamadi estimated is worth about $50,000.
鈥淚 realized that not everyone has that kind of opportunity to just pick up a sport and pay for all the gear,鈥� Mohamadi said. 鈥淟et鈥檚 say they want to play a sport that requires a lot of gear or pay for lessons. I wanted to share that.鈥�
Mohamadi launched her first donation drive in the summer of 2023, and created the club the following year. At Sidwell Friends School, the club has 30 members and has run five drives this year. It鈥檚 also expanded to other schools around the region.
Mohamadi has a table full of tennis rackets, cleats, golf clubs and balls in her parents鈥� garage. But it will soon be shared with Leveling the Playing Field, which invites community members to pick up items they might need.
鈥淭hat could be the coach for a local high school team,鈥� Mohamadi said. 鈥淚t could just be a young athlete that is interested in starting sports, but doesn鈥檛 have the means to buy their own equipment.鈥�
Part of Mohamadi鈥檚 inspiration comes from her time as an intern, when people would visit the warehouse but realized the items they were looking for weren鈥檛 there.
One high school coach was struck by the fact he could pick anything from the shelves without having to pay, Mohamadi said.
Mohamadi started playing field hockey in fifth grade, and she said the sport helped her learn about leadership, friendship and connection.
The clubs take any donated items that they鈥檙e given, but 鈥渁 lot of people, especially in this area, have a lot of tennis, there鈥檚 a lot of field hockey here, lacrosse. But we鈥檝e taken pretty much everything,鈥� she said.
Moving forward, Mohamadi wants to consider collecting money to help aspiring athletes cover the cost of training too.
鈥淲e just do the equipment side of those things,鈥� Mohamadi said. 鈥淎nd so I think in the future, one of the things I’d like to expand the club is finding a way to provide athletes with the training they need.鈥�
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