About the founder

Meet Aby Ryan, CEO & Founder

Aby Ryan founded Athena Camps in 2011 after a successful career as a professional tennis player, collegiate coach, and non-profit executive. With over 30 years of experience coaching and developing programs for girl-serving organizations, Aby specializes in youth program development, curriculum design, and innovative strategies to grow strong, expressive, confident young women.

When her daughter started kindergarten, Aby Ryan saw a need for a new environment where girls could navigate social pressures, build character, and support each other. She realized the time had come to implement her dream of creating a girls’ sports camp. So on June 11, 2011, she launched the first Athena Camp with 27 girls. Athena Camps’ attendance quadrupled in our first full year. Since then, Athena Camps continues to grow each year and hopes to serve 5,000 girls by 2025.