February 6 is National Girls and Women in Sports Day and leading up to it, the women of Wesleyan University Athletics want to get more girls out and playing.
Saturday they hosted their annual all girls multi-sport clinic.
From crew to volleyball, in total, seven different sports were on display inside the Freeman Athletic Center at Wesleyan University.
“I think it's a great opportunity to showcase all the different sports,” said Wesleyan softball coach Jennifer Lane.
It’s their fourth year hosting a clinic as part of National Girls and Women in Sports Day and this time, they have more than 140 girls ready to learn from the all-female roster of student-athletes.
"We never had something to kind of unite the young girls who played sports in our community so it's really nice to kind of be able to do something like this now,” said Alyssa DaSilva, a sophomore on the Wesleyan softball team.
The growing numbers are a reminder that times are changing. Lane said she’s enjoyed watching her own daughters have female role models in professional sports on TV.
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"It's no longer like you're teaching the girls to be like the boys in sports,” added DaSilva. “They can just have their own experience in it and they know that too."
Other schools in the area plan to hold similar clinics: the University of Hartford on February 2 and Quinnipiac on February 10. Click here for more information.
