Princeton honors Women in Sports

Sometimes it is hard to remember that athletics is about more than just winning and losing, especially at a school with so much athletic success.

Princeton is widely recognized as a leader in women's collegiate athletics. In the 1990s, the Tigers won 31 league titles in 11 different sports.

On Feb. 10, over 100 Princeton female student-athletes reminded the school and the community that winning is not everything.

Princeton held its second-annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day celebration, an event designed to teach young girls both the basics of a variety of sports and the benefits of an active, healthy lifestyle.

The emphasis of the interactive fair, held before the women's basketball game against Harvard, was on the interaction between the current and future female student-athletes.

"I used to think older athletes were the coolest," junior Linley Gober, a member of the women's soccer team, said. "I think seeing the athletes at the college level and seeing their dedication was an experience for me. It made me realize that [athletics] was something I wanted to do and to aspire to. It was really important to be encouraged by those older girls. It was really influential."

National Girls and Women in Sports Day began as a day to honor the athletic achievements and leadership of Flo Hyman. One of the great Olympic volleyball players, Hyman — captain of the 1984 U.S. Women's Olympic team — suffered a fatal heart attack during a match in Japan in 1986.

The following year, the Women's Sports Foundation organized a day to celebrate Hyman's life on and off the court, and the achievements of female athletes in all sports.

Princeton, in its second-annual celebration, held an interactive sports fair, run by female athletes in varsity and club sports. Over 2,100 people attended the event, which was co-sponsored by the Department of Athletics and the Delaware-Raritan Girl Scouts Council.

"We wanted to let the young girls see role models of what they could achieve in athletics," said event organizer Katie Finkfinder.

The fair consisted of 13 stations, each designed a run by members of a particular team. The stations were designed to demonstrate and teach a skill required in a certain sport.

"We wanted to get the girls as involved as possible in as many different sports as possible," women's track coach Peter Farrell said. "The line for the long jump was 40 deep."

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Over 100 Princeton student-athletes participated in the fair, held just before the women's basketball game Feb. 10 against Harvard.

An estimated 900 Girl Scouts from the surrounding community attended the event.

"I think they had a really great time. A lot of the girls had come to our games and seen us play, so they were asking for autographs and we could tell they were excited to be talking to older athletes," Gober said.

The event was not only designed to give children and their parents a chance to meet and interact with college athletes, but also to emphasize and teach children about the benefits of a healthy and active lifestyle.

"It's important to promote the health benefits of being active," Finkfinder said. "If you can learn when you're younger to be physically fit you'll have that throughout your life."

The format gave players and coaches the opportunity to talk with parents and their children about athletics on the college level, while serving as role models to the future athletes.

"It was really great to see the girls so excited about soccer," Gober said. "The game is going to new heights, and we're kind of in the middle of it. The generation above us had to struggle a lot for recognition. It was really great to see those young girls with the interest and desire to play the sport that meant so much to our lives."