If you walked into Eastern Mennonite University’s main gym last Sunday evening, you would have likely seen 70 young girls dancing, high-fiving, kicking soccer balls, racing across the court, making a lay-up, hitting a softball, or running with a lacrosse stick in hand. February 1 marks the official National Girls and Women in Sport Day which began in 1987. The EMU athletic teams decided to celebrate this day by launching an annual event for local girls in the community. Through planning from Coach Stick Kishorn (field hockey coach and EMU senior Administrator) and the help of four to five representatives from each women’s athletic team, this inaugural event was a huge success.
The set-up of the event included nine different stations where groups of seven to nine girls would get to know each sport and participate in a small activity before moving to the next station. Before rotating through stations, each collegiate team created a huddle in the main gym with their group of girls and played a silly game in order for the girls to get to know one another and feel comfortable. Once all participants were there, everyone played a large group game and then each team split into their stations. After the groups rotated through each of the nine stations, everyone came back together for a group photo and a raffle. The raffle included a variety of potential EMU athletic related prizes for the girls such as shirts, hats, cups, and flags.
According to a number of athletes who helped run their sport station, this event was extremely successful and should be continued in the future. A current basketball player at EMU, Mya Hamlet, positively reflected on this event. “I did not participate in anything like the women in sports event [as a kid]. I wish I could’ve though! It seems like so much fun being able to play all of these different sports. It allows you to explore different sports and try new things which is great. You could even potentially discover a sport you want to play and be involved with for many years to come! I feel like it is such an empowering experience to be a girl, surrounded by other wonderful girls who are leaders not only of their sport, but their lives!”
When asked if there were ways that this event could be run better in the future, Meghan Miller, volleyball setter for EMU, stated, “There were times where it seemed like the older girls weren’t loving it as much as the younger ones because it did seem to be a little more geared towards the elementary age groups. The event could possibly be better if there were separate days or times for the elementary school girls and the middle school girls so we could cater the events and activities to the age groups better.” Despite this though, Miller reflected that the event was a huge success and there were many specific instances where she could empower girls at her station.
In one of these instances, a girl in first grade was pretty shy and scared to do the activities at the station. Miller told her that it was okay to be nervous and that the athletes were there to help them. Miller stated, “When we were doing the opening activities, she was hesitant to join so I held her hand and went slowly with her. After a little bit she said, ‘okay, I think I’m ready!’ and it was so great to see her participate with a smile on her face. I saw how helping her along was giving her the tools to do it herself and empowering her along the way.” This is just one simple story that reflects how The Women in Sport Event has hopefully given the young girls in our community a taste of each sport as well as empowered them to be courageous, curious, and filled with support.
