National Girls and Women in Sports Day – FEB 6

NGWSD Central 

Welcome to the 27th Annual Celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day!

NAGWS is one of four Coalition members who plan the Washington, DC-based celebration on Capitol Hill and prepare the materials and products available for you to host an event in your school or community.

On February 6, 2013, thousands of sports educators, coaches, athletic directors, recreation directors, association members, sponsors, students, and parents across the country will show their support of the Day and of this year’s theme, “Girls in Sports, An Investment in the Future.”

Athletes like Martina Navratilova, Candace Parker or Jessica Mendoza who played or are still playing are making a difference, overcoming difficult circumstances, breaking records and making things possible.

Find out more about hosting your event today!

NAGWS has served girls and women in sport for more than a century! During that time, a variety of programs have been initiated to prepare teachers and coaches to work with female students and to challenge individuals and institutions to look at how they do business each day.

Title IX/gender equity issues have been a long-time focus of NAGWS programs through programs like Backyards and Beyond or National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD).

NAGWS advocates, educates, researches, honors, publishes and much, much more. If you are interested in the issues and challenges facing girls and women in sport today or in the future, you can find a good professional home in NAGWS.

• Host a Backyards Gathering in your community or school
• Invite an NAGWS leader to your National Girls and Women in Sports Day event
• Contribute or subscribe to Women’s Sport and Physical Activity Journal (WSPAJ)
• Find your voice as an advocate for gender equity

NAGWS’ mission is to develop and deliver equitable and quality sport opportunities for all girls and women.

Advocacy

Advocacy is defined as the action of advocating, pleading for, or supporting a cause or proposal (W. O. Douglas).
Anyone can be an advocate – those who advocate for girls and women in sport are encouraged to become involved with NAGWS. For more than 110 years NAGWS has been a voice in the world for all girls and women in sport – athletes, teachers, coaches and administrators at all levels. But advocates are also lawyers and politicians, moms and dads, friends and neighbors…just about anyone. NAGWS is here for all of you!

Since the passage of Title IX in 1972, sport participation numbers for girls and women have skyrocketed. Preschoolers learn soccer or gymnastics skills, school-age girls participate in leagues and on teams, and adult women of all ages and abilities carry their love of sport into their everyday lives. Learning to be a better advocate is valuable and it helps those who play now and those who might play in the future.

NAGWS has long been an advocate for gender equity issues, career advancement, media representation, injury prevention and much more…and you can be an advocate as well!

Celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) each February by hosting an event in your community and learn more about new legislation and ways you can support girls and women in sport in your community with NGWSD resources.

Help your community understand gender equity/Title IX by hosting a Backyards and Beyond Gathering, premiering NAGWS’ new 3-disc DVD set on Title IX, or leading your class or group in a Generations of Title IX storytelling session.

Sign on to support legislative initiatives through AAHPERD/NAGWS’ CapWiz access, or read Position Papers posted by NAGWS leaders to help you understand the issues for which you will advocate.

Whatever Action you Take, make sure your voice is heard!

If our mission speaks to you, please join us today.

EVENT CALENDAR HERE

 
History – Earlier Years

A conference, held in 1899, by the American Physical Education Association (APEA, later to become the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance), Alice Foster, Oberlin College, read a paper on women’s basket ball. At that time, women’s basket ball was being played under several different rule formats. Foster’s paper identified this problem and suggested a meeting to consolidate the rules. Later during the conference, Foster chaired a committee that included: Senda Berenson, Smith College; Ethel Perrin, Boston Normal School of Gymnastics; and Elizabeth Wright, Radcliffe College. The Committee investigated the various rules being used for women’s basket ball and produced the first official women’s basket ball rules book in 1901. (Basket ball was two words in the late 1800s). The Women’s Basket Ball Rules Committee represented the American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education (AAAPE), only one of six sport organizations in the United States at that time.