How Nina Javier is building a community where everyone can learn, grow, and play.
Every week in Metro Manila, over eighty people gather on the field for Enpower Open Play. Before a single flying disc is thrown, the players come together in a huddle, where Nina Javier welcomes the newcomers by name. She reminds everyone what their community is all about: it is a safe space where you can learn, grow, and have fun, regardless of whether you are a national team player or you have never touched a disc. Then, they play.
“When your heart is in the right place,” Nina says, “people will feel it.”
That weekly ritual is not an accident. It is the result of Nina’s 17-year career in Ultimate and her strong conviction that sport should be for everyone.
From Athlete to Nation-Builder
Growing up in the Philippines, Nina was an athlete who played badminton, volleyball, and track and field. She found Ultimate when a former teammate reached out looking for girls to join their team. The sport took hold of her quickly and completely. Nina eventually became a national team athlete, a coach, and the founder and head coach of Enpower Ultimate Academy.
Along the way, she helped form the Binibinis, the first Philippine Women’s Ultimate National Team. This move was born from frustration. When she first started playing, women in mixed-gender sports were often just on the field to make up the numbers. Men often would not pass to women who were wide open, causing girls to lose confidence and interest.
“People were being overlooked, looked down on, disregarded, and simply not given a chance,” she explains. “It wasn’t right.”
She decided to do something about it. The Binibinis became a symbol of women’s empowerment in Philippine Ultimate. This led to clinics and open sessions where women could build their skills at their own pace. Eventually, her academy was built on a simple vision: to empower Filipinos to live out their true potential in sport and in life through Ultimate.
The Stronger and Softer Sides of Coaching
Nina was nominated by her National Federation President to join the Girls Positive and Safe Coaching Course, delivered by the World Flying Disc Federation with support from The Association For International Sport for All (TAFISA). At the time, she was looking to become a better coach and understand what the young girls on her high school varsity team actually needed from her.
What she learned in the course shifted her perspective. She had spent years championing the “stronger” side of empowerment by providing role models and setting high standards to inspire girls. The course helped her see the “softer” side of coaching: listening, observing, empathizing, and making girls feel seen and valued exactly as they are.
“I went from being a role model to being a support,” Nina shares. “I wanted girls to feel comfortable first with themselves, no matter the struggles they were currently facing.”
That shift changed how she coaches. She began paying closer attention to the journey rather than just the final result, viewing a safe space as the foundation of good coaching instead of just a backdrop. She honestly shared this realization at the TAFISA World Congress in Prague, admitting there was a whole dimension of the work she had previously missed.
What It Looks Like Now
The Enpower Open Play community began the month after her coaching course ended. It operates for two hours, one evening a week, and anyone is welcome. Beginners line up right alongside national team players.
Today, the community is 600 people strong. New friendships have formed, and people who initially arrived hesitant have found their confidence and kept coming back. Nina credits this success to the community who supported the creation of this safe space.
Nina’s dream is to take this community beyond Metro Manila to reach Ultimate players across the entire Philippines. “My dream is that while working towards these goals, I become a better person, a better human being, continuously learning and growing,” she says.
On a field in Manila, that work continues every week. Eighty people gather in a huddle, newcomers are welcomed, and then they play.
This story is written and featured through the SUCCEED Framework, which connects and amplifies initiatives that use sport and physical activity to create positive change in communities around the world. Led by TAFISA in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee through its Olympism365 strategy, SUCCEED supports collective learning and strengthens the global Sport for All movement by sharing experiences, lessons learned, and examples of impact.
