Celebrate Girls and Women in Sports Day

Girls and Women in Sports Day with a female runner, a female basketball player, and a woman stretching on a yoga work. There are also drawings of women playing soccer, playing basketball, and wrestling.

 

February 5 is National Girls and Women in Sports Day. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, “This celebration inspires girls and women to play and be active, to realize their full power. The confidence, strength and character gained through sports participation are the very tools girls and women need to become strong leaders in sports and life.” 

NGWSD was originally introduced in 1987 as a day to honor the memory of Olympic volleyball player Flo Hyman for her accomplishments and advocacy for female athletes. Hyman died suddenly of complications of undiagnosed Marfan Syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting connective tissue, in January 1986 during a volleyball tournament. Since then, the day has evolved to celebrate all of the progress in women’s sports since the inception and passing of Title IX in 1972 and the continued struggling and advocacy for equality and equity in women’s sports. Fun fact about a local woman in sports: just last summer,  Endicott-Union High School and Binghamton University native Emily Mackay competed in the 2024 Olympics in Paris. 

 

Here are some books, movies, and websites that celebrate girls and women that compete in various sports, as well as acknowledge advocacy and some of the unique issues female athletes face.

 

Books

  • Own the arena : getting ahead, making a difference, and succeeding as the only one- Adams, Katrina 
  • The striker and the clock : on being in the game- Cloepfil, Georgia
  • Sidelined : sports, culture, and being a woman in America- DiCaro, Julie
  • Fast girl : a life spent running from madness- Favor Hamilton, Suzy
  • Good for a girl : a woman running in a man's world- Fleshman, Lauren
  • The longest race : inside the secret world of abuse, doping, and deception on Nike's elite running team- Goucher, Kara
  • Women in sports : 50 fearless athletes who played to win- Ignotofsky, Rachel
  • Althea : the life of tennis champion Althea Gibson- Jacobs, Sally H.
  • Marion Jones : life in the fast lane : an illustrated autobiography- Jones, Marion
  • Thirty-thousand steps : a memoir of sprinting toward life after loss- Keefe, Jess
  • Women on waves : a cultural history of surfing : from ancient goddesses and Hawaiian queens to Malibu movie stars and millennial champions- Kempton, Jim
  • Choosing to run : a memoir- Linden, Des
  • A whole new ball game : the story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League- Macy, Sue
  • Brace for impact : a memoir- Montesanti, Gabe
  • Far beyond gold : running from fear to faith- McLaughlin, Sydney
  • Fire on the track : Betty Robinson and the triumph of the early Olympic women- Montillo, Roseanne
  • One life- Rapinoe, Megan
  • Naomi Osaka : her journey to finding her power and her voice- Rothenberg, Ben
  • Taking aim : daring to be different, happier, and healthier in the great outdoors- Shockey, Eva
  • Roar : how to match your food and fitness to your unique female physiology for optimum performance, great health, and a strong, lean body for life- Sims, Stacy T.
  • Solo : a memoir of Hope-  Solo, Hope
  • Price she pays : Confronting the hidden mental health crisis in women's sports--from the schoolyard to the stadium- Steele, Katie
  • A different kind of daughter : the girl who hid from the Taliban in plain sight- Toorpakai, Maria
  • Game, set, match : Billie Jean King and the revolution in women's sports- Ware, Susan
  • Whatever it takes : women on women's sport- Winans, Joby

 

Movies and Documentaries

  • Fighting with my family
  • Float like a butterfly
  • Groundbreakers : celebrating 50 years of female excellence in sports
  • Million dollar baby
  • Pat and Mike
  • Personal best
  • Ride like a girl
  • Tracktown (available on Hoopla)

 

Websites, Articles,  and Archival Materials

 

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Cher Armstrong
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