Matt Gad – Sports Writer
The annual Girls and Women In Sport Day was hosted inside Moore
Field House this past Saturday, an annual event held early on in the spring semester by the
athletic department.
Many student-athletes volunteered their time to help the young girls partake in various activities
specific to each school sport. There were rotating stations in which everyone had a chance to try
all the different sports on display.
“It’s a consistent number [of attendees] each year and I think kids look forward coming back,”
women’s field hockey coach Kelley Frassinelli said. “The athletes are amazing and it’s an event
that even my girls look forward to coming to every year.”
And in addition to her role with the field hockey team, Frassinelli serves as the athletic
department’s senior woman administrator, a position she has held since last spring. The position
is designated for the highest ranking female in an NCAA athletic department and it is used as a
way to encourage female leadership for collegiate athletics.
The National Girls and Women In Sports Day is held during the beginning of February each year
to promote accomplishments from female athletes and Southern has echoed that by hosting their
own event around the same time.
Associate Athletic Director of Athletics and Communications Michael Kobylanski said the event
had another good turnout and there were a lot of smiles on the faces of the girls and on the
student-athletes that were helping them out.
Said Kobylanski: “It’s a feel good day and one of the days I look forward to each and every year.
The national program has been in existence for almost 40 years now and we’ve been conducting
this program at Southern for almost 20. We certainly make it part of the program every year and
it rings an annual tradition.”
The official observance takes place this year on Feb. 7 and has the theme “Play Fair, Play IX.”
Title IX is a federal United States law that prevents exclusion on the basis of sex. The United
States’ Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, withdrew campus sexual assault guidance that was
put in place from the Obama Administration this past September.
On campus, Paula Rice is the Title IX Coordinator and she is available, in her office, weekdays
from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and by phone at 203-392- 5568. In the athletic department, Matthew
Letkowski serves as an Associate Athletic Director of Compliance.
Delany Turner, a pitcher on the softball team, expressed the importance of teaching the young
girls who attended the event the various sports out there. As part of the softball clinic, the girls
were run through various pitching, hitting and footwork techniques.
“It’s just so cute teaching them the sports so many of them don’t know about,” she said. “They
just need to know all the sports that there are for girls; there are so many options and they have
so many capabilities.”
Turner also said it was a great experience to have every women’s athletic program together
because their schedules usually don’t all match up at once. She said everyone appreciates each
other and it shows how student-athletes are one big family.
Photo Credit: Matt Gad
