On Sunday in the Bill Koman Practice Complex, two toddler girls tangled themselves in a lacrosse net, their laughter spilling across the gym as UNC women’s lacrosse players crouched to free them.
Not far away, a little girl in a frilly dress leaped for a volleyball spike, while three young boys with field hockey sticks debated UNC’s identity: basketball school, field hockey school or women’s soccer school?
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At UNC’s annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day, the games were small but the stakes were big. For 90 minutes, the future of sports played out as kids darted between stations led by UNC’s female athletes. Afterward, attendees were given complimentary tickets to the women’s basketball game. Nearly all 15 women’s varsity teams participated, and more than 1,000 attendees filled the complex.
The event dates back to over a decade ago when Associate Director of Academic Support for Student-Athletes Jenn Townsend pitched the idea to Senior Associate Athletic Director Cricket Lane. That first event, organized by Townsend, Lane and a then-senior softball player, featured just a handful of mini-clinics and drew a modest crowd. Since then, the event has grown into one of the athletic department's most celebrated community outreach initiatives.
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At its core, the event has remained true to its mission: showcasing UNC’s women’s teams and exposing young athletes to new sports.
“It’s kind of inherent in my personality to want to champion things that maybe won't get attention otherwise,” Townsend said.
At the rowing station, senior rower Claudia Quintaba watched as kids lined up to test their strength at the erg machines, some returning for second and third turns.