Pomona Plays Host to National Girls and Women in Sports Day
By Betsy Mork
Staff Writer

What do you get when you mix seventy five Fremont Middle School girls with yoga, basketball, volleyball, track, and six foot long subway sandwiches? National Girls and Women in Sports Day! On Saturday, February 1, Pomona-Pitzer athletes and coaches played host to a group of Pomona Partners students for a day of fun in the sun.

Established in 1987 as an effort to recognize and encourage women athletes, National Girls and Women in Sports Day has become a tradition in Claremont. Many of the students posed in the yoga studio and sprinting down the straightaway of Strehle Track were veterans of several years. Their continuing attendance reflects the success of the program.

The day began with registration, an organized chaos of name tags, t-shirts, and flashing cameras. Once adorned in their dark blue t-shirts complete with this year’s logo, “Playing Fairly is Playing Well,” the kids sat down for an interactive lecture on “Ethics in Sports,” given by Dr. Ann Lebedeff. As a former professional tennis player and nationally known college coach, Dr. Lebedeff spoke on the business of sportsmanship. She asked the crowd of kids about their personal sports philosophies. When one young woman responded that heart was an important characteristic in an athlete, another chipped in “Heart . . . it means everything. Heart is just everything.” Few could argue.

As the sit-down portion of the day ended and the active portion began, hearts began to beat a little faster. Students who had no experience with sports at all mingled with athletes, and everyone was eager to sample the day’s options. After a quick stretching session with Kirk Reynolds, the Pomona-Pitzer track coach, the groups went off to the four sessions.

As a volunteer partaking in the day's events, I entered the gym and was met with a chorus of enthusiastic voices bouncing off the walls -- along with more than a few volleyballs and basketballs. I dodged in and out of the action as members of the women’s basketball and volleyball teams shared their knowledge with the students. The girls were working up a sweat bumping and setting on one end of the gym, while their peers were dribbling, shooting baskets, and practicing defensive slides on the other.

Upstairs in the studio, Carla Jackson was leading the girls through a series of yoga exercises, working on flexibility, posture, and breath. As the participants stretched into pose after pose I heard a barrage of “oohs” and “aaah, that hurts!”  It was a good hurt though, judging from the smiles and laughter filling the room.

I arrived at the track just in time for the long jump. A blue line of leapers stretched away from the sandpit. They sprinted one by one to the line for a chance at glory, honor, and fame… or at least a lot of cheering from their schoolmates. Pomona-Pitzer track runners stood on either side of the pit, smoothing the sand when necessary and encouraging each athlete in their flight. Those who wanted to took jump after jump. Others, getting a bit tired, preferred to eat orange slices and cheer from the sidelines.

By early afternoon everyone was starving. Pomona-Pitzer athletes and Fremont Middle School athletes alike trooped down to the softball field for some subs, chips, fruit, cookies, and conversation.  In small and large groups we spread across the grass,  munching hungrily and actively watching the Sagehen softball team's game. Tired muscles finally recovered, and hungry kids went back for seconds and thirds.  After an hour lounging on Wig beach, the students were sent off to their buses and the rest of their weekend.

Had the experience changed anything? The coordinators and volunteers at the event hope so. Of course, it’s only one day; but in that time seventy-five young women got a chance to experience college athletics. And who knows? Perhaps a love for sport was awakened for a few kids who might never have been given the chance.