As part of its annual Girls and Women in Sports Day, female student-athletes from Bowdoin will welcome local girls in grades K-12 to campus this weekend as part of an initiative to expose them to an array of sports.
According to Erica Nangeroni '14, one of three student coordinators of the event, Girls and Women in Sports Day's primary goal is "to reach girls during their middle school years when they may self-select themselves out of sports."
Playing alongside women from all of the College's athletic teams, these girls will have the opportunity to engage in a variety of clinics, exposing them to over 10 different sports, ranging from lacrosse, softball and tennis to sailing, squash, and ice hockey.
The event, in association with the National Girls and Women in Sports Day, was enacted in celebration of the successful passage of Title IX, a federal statute that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the statute's enactment.
Bowdoin's Girls and Women in Sports Day "has been going on for over a decade," said Jeff Ward, director of athletics. "One of the things that I worry about is that the number of girls competing in athletics drops off significantly at this young age, so connecting them with good role models is a great thing."
Karen Corey, head coach of the women's volleyball team, was put in charge of the program in 2007. After 60 girls registered in Corey's first year, the annual enrollment has increased each year, with a reported all-time high of 173 girls partaking in 2010. With 140 already registered for this year, attendance is expected to exceed 200 this weekend.
The growth in popularity of the program has prompted Corey and a number of student-athletes to expand the program into a two-day event.
"Girls play sports for different reasons than boys play sports," said Corey. "For girls, there's a really big social component and that's very powerful for them. Bowdoin's Girls and Women in Sports Day has been a nice event that the community looks forward to and I feel like we're making a difference out there in little girls' lives."
Many of the women who play for Bowdoin's women's varsity teams had similar experiences when they were younger, and hope to return the favor by giving back to today's youth.
Sophia Cornew '14, a member of the volleyball team who is helping coordinate the weekend, said that as a senior in high school, she was influenced by a similar program.
"I attended a similar event at Stanford and left that day knowing I wanted to play college sports," she said. "It gave me something to dream and work towards. It worked for me: it's my hope it does the same for these girls."
Tomorrow, girls in grades six through nine will have a 'Luncheon with the Polar Bears'—the first ever—in Thorne Dining Hall at 1 p.m., and then head over to the women's basketball game against Connecticut College at 2 p.m.
On Sunday, girls in grades K-3 will flock to Farley Field House between noon and 2 p.m. to participate in a circuit of sports activity stations, with the girls in grades 4-12 arriving between 2:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m.
Those still interested in registering for Saturday's luncheon or Sunday's clinic session can enroll for free on Bowdoin's athletic website until tomorrow.