Celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day!

Since its inception in 1987, National Girls and Women in Sports Day has become the premiere occasion to celebrate the participation, success and accomplishments of girls and women athletes. What started in 1987 as a single event in Washington, D.C. to honor Olympic volleyball star Flo Hyman has grown into a nationwide celebration across all 50 states.

In honor of the 23rd annual NGWSD, the coalition delegation, including champion athletes and middle and high school athletes from Girls Scouts of the USA spent the day on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and met with members of Congress to discuss central issues surrounding female participation in sport. The Olympic and professional athletes who participated in the coalition’s lobbying efforts were current Foundation president and Olympic gold medalist Jessica Mendoza, softball, two-time Olympic gold medalist Donna de Varona, swimming, the first U.S. national champion in the 800m, Dr. Lillian Greene-Chamberlain, track and field, three-time Olympic medalist Angela Ruggiero, ice hockey, and champion freestyle skier Grete Eliassen. The coalition groups urged lawmakers to support equal opportunities for both sexes to participate in sports. The speakers shared with legislators the physical and psychological benefits girls receive from sports participation, and the athletes told stories about the effects of sports on their lives, highlighting how sports not only kept them physically active but also made them more well-rounded individuals. (read more)

NEW YORK- With the first induction ceremony today, the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center became the official home to the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. Billie Jean King, founder of the Women's Sports Foundation,  hosted the 2008 induction ceremony and celebrated the grand opening of the Billie Jean King Center.

Created by the Women's Sports Foundation, the Billie Jean King Center is the first museum exhibit and hall of fame dedicated exclusively to all women's sports. Located in the Sports Museum of America, the Center gives visitors easy access to women's sports history through an interactive, multimedia sports experience.  The 2008 inductees are the following:

Shannon Miller gained prominence when she became the first American gymnast to win an individual gold medal on the balance beam, in 1996, and continued in the sport to become the most decorated American gymnast, earning seven Olympic medals.

"It's such an honor to be inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. I am a member of several halls of fame, and each one is so special, but to be inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame holds a special place," said Miller. (read more)

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