February 4, 2010

Smith Hosts National Girls & Women in Sports Day; Introduces Flag Football

Northampton, Mass. - On Sunday, Smith Athletics hosted its annual National Girls & Women in Sports (NGWSD) Day clinics. For more than 15 years, Smith has opened its facilities to local 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade girls as they are introduced to many of the 14 varsity sports and club sports that the Pioneers offer.

NGWSD is celebrated in all 50 states with community-based events, award ceremonies, and activities honoring the achievements and encouraging participation of girls and women in sports. This year's date of celebration is February 3rd and the theme is "Stay Strong, Play On."

This year, Smith offered stations in the following sports: softball, fencing, rock climbing, crew, cheerleading, track & field, rugby, tennis, field hockey, lacrosse and soccer. Making its debut this year was flag football. In joining with the National Football League's NFL Play60 movement, the Pioneers were able to introduce more than 100 young girls to the sport of football.

NFL Play60 is the NFL's Movement for an Active and Healthy Generation, encouraging kids to play for 60 minutes every day in order to tackle childhood obesity. NFL Flag Football is a program of Play60. An up and coming program is the NFL Girls Flag Football Leadership Program, which identifies the growing demand for girls' flag football to be legitimized as a high school sport, and is the first program of its kind to recognize the desire of girls to be more involved in the sport of flag football. Flag belts and youth footballs were donated by the NFL. The flag football station was facilitated by current Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Rashad Jeanty, former San Francisco 49er and current assistant athletic director for Amherst College Billy McBride, Amherst's head football coach E.J. Mills and Williams College assistant football coach Donnie Brooks.

Admission was free for participants who also received a t-shirt, certificate of participation, snacks and refreshments, a 4 page newsletter, and pens and flashcards donated by the NFL.

Special Thanks to Jack Brennan of the Cincinnati Bengals and Samantha Rapoport, Amanda Herald and Tiffany Robertson of the National Football League.

For more information on National Girls & Women in Sports Day, please visit www.aahperd.org/nagws

For more information on the NFL's Play60 Movement, please visit www.nflrush.com.