It has been 38 years since the first National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD). Since 1987, Feb. 4 has been a day of celebration for women in athletics. In recognition of the national holiday, Fordham University hosted its annual NGWSD and Sports Day Clinic on Saturday Feb. 8.
The sports day clinic invites kindergarten through sixth-grade girls from New York City to the Lombardi Fieldhouse on the Rose Hill campus to participate in a clinic with the female athletes on Fordham’s campus. This year the Fordham Athletics Department had 120 girls sign up, including girls from local schools, youth basketball teams and other youth athletics programs.
Thirteen of Fordham Athletic teams, 10 Division I teams and three club teams participated in this year’s clinic. Athletes from the volleyball, soccer, rowing, track and field, tennis, golf, dance, cheer, football, sailing, ultimate frisbee and wrestling teams ran activities for the young girls who showed up.
The stations at the clinic allowed the young girls to become Ram athletes for the day, running relays, long jumping, perfecting a cheer routine, playing t-ball, knot-tying and rowing on ergs are just a few of the activities offered at the event.
“Seeing that the love of learning, competing, dancing, and connecting is present so early on in young girls’ lives was really beautiful, and demonstrated the affinity and space that can be shared between groups of girls no matter how young or old,” Sara Kumar, FCLC ’27
Laughter and cheers from young and college athletes alike rang through the Lombardi Fieldhouse all afternoon. For Sara Kumar, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’27, a member of the Fordham dance team, the sports clinic manifested the love within the women’s athletic community.
“Seeing that the love of learning, competing, dancing, and connecting is present so early on in young girls’ lives was really beautiful, and demonstrated the affinity and space that can be shared between groups of girls no matter how young or old,” Kumar wrote.
The community building that occurs between the Fordham student-athletes and young girls in their community is one of the most important aspects of the clinic for Shannon Lulley, Fordham College at Rose Hill ’16, senior associate athletic director for strategic initiative & diversity, equity and inclusion, who organized the yearly event.
“This is a really good way to bring in local kids, youth groups and have them come to campus and just see a college campus, see what it means to be a student-athlete while also allowing our student-athletes to realize that they are role models within the community,” Lulley said.
“When these kids come to campus to watch a game or do a clinic or something like this, they are kind of looking up to our student-athletes.”
Lulley was once in the shoes of many of the athletes who worked the clinic, as she is a former member of Fordham’s swim and dive team. From her identity as a former student-athlete to her role with the athletics department at Fordham, Lulley continues to promote the long-term benefits of participation in sports for young girls.
“You can play sports and you can be fast, and you can be strong and you can be a leader, and all these things are going to help you grow into whatever you want to be when you get older, professionally or as an athlete,” Lulley said.
The celebration of NGWSD by the Fordham athletics department displays the shifting attempts to highlight the accomplishment of female sports.
“It’s really just about continuing to get visibility around our women’s sports and that’s just a universal thing,” Lulley said.
Both members of the athletic department and female student-athletes hope to improve the visibility and access for Fordham women’s teams during their time in the Ramily.
“I encourage Fordham Athletics to give its women’s teams the same visibility and allocation of resources that it does to the men’s teams. We are all under the same department, and just being a woman in this space inherently comes with hurdles — the athletics department needs to ensure that all its athletes receive quality spaces to practice and perform in and access to opportunities to foster our growth,” Kumar wrote.
The benefits of athletics for those who participate will continue to follow them throughout their lives. The mission of NGWSD is to continue to promote the benefits for womens and girls alike year round.
“Representation is vital. When young girls see women in athletic spaces, they are actively fighting against the perception that women do not belong in domains traditionally occupied by men,” Kumar wrote. “Especially since women had to persevere to enter and remain in sports.”
