KUTZTOWN, PA. (February 2, 2010) – More than 100 elementary school students from the Kutztown Area School District participated in shuttle hurdle relays, dribbled basketballs, fired shots at a soccer goal and played golf with Kutztown University student-athletes during the annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day festivities in the Keystone Fieldhouse Tuesday morning. (PHOTO GALLERY)
This year’s theme was “Stay Strong, Play On.”
Both, the KU student-athletes and kids had smiles as wide as the Susquehanna River as they had a blast interacting with one another. Student-athletes from all of Kutztown’s women athletic teams served as mentors and teachers to the wide-eyed and energetic youngsters. Football players were group leaders. The elementary school kids learned the finer points of properly handling a field hockey stick, passing a volleyball and swatting tennis balls across the net. One lucky student named Mary, rolled a strike with the bowling team.
“It was so much fun,” women’s cross-country runner Steph Grimm said. “I did this last year. The kids were so excited and they really tried hard. It just felt great to do something for somebody else because sometimes as athletes, we don’t have an opportunity to give the time we did today. So this was great.”
Grimm was one of the ringleaders as the kids ran a shuttle-hurdle relay race. She was leading the cheers and clapping as the kids raced around the track oval featuring orange reddish cones and mini-orange hurdles. Meanwhile, over in the soccer area, women’s soccer coach Erik Burstein dressed early for Halloween. Burstein sat in goal with a gold football helmet, which was missing a face mask, a black goalie jersey, black sweatpants and white knee pads. His infectious personality helped the kids feel at ease even though Burstein did not allow a goal.
“This was great because our team got a chance to get together and have plenty of fun,” junior volleyball player Jamie Celia said. “Being able to spend time with these kids meant a lot to me because I plan to teach in the future. This was a nice experience and I am glad I was able to be a part of it.”
In between hitting green tennis balls off of batting tees, KU mascot Avalanche made a celebrity appearance. The kids enjoyed posing for pictures and high-fiving the gold furry mascot. The nationally-renowned KU cheer team did some backflips and a few cheers for the kids. With Meredith Starr and Kristen Murray leading the way, the youngsters dribbled between traffic cones.
During the 90-minute session, the kids bounced from station to station. Once the day was finished, kids received a bag of goodies and munched on pizza, hot dogs, pretzels and cookies. Kutztown athletics graduate assistant Dave Kerschner was the coordinator of this year’s event.
“This was a lot of fun to coordinate,” Kerschner said. “It was enjoyable to see everything come together and see all of the athletes interact with each other.”
Since its inception in 1987, National Girls and Women in Sports Day has become the premiere occasion to celebrate the participation, success and accomplishments of girls and women athletes. What started in 1987 as a single event in Washington, D.C. to honor Olympic volleyball star Flo Hyman has grown into a nationwide celebration across all 50 states.
“Each year as we celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day, we are reminded of the importance of maintaining a focus on, and creating an awareness of, the important issues facing women and girls in this country and beyond,” Women's Sports Foundation Founder Billie Jean King said. “The powerful combination of sports, health and education found in programs administered by organizations like the Women’s Sports Foundation not only directly benefits women and girls today, it lays a foundation for growth for generations to come.”