BATON ROUGE – Nine members of the LSU softball team stopped by Parkview Baptist and St. Luke’s Episcopal Schools Wednesday to speak to female students at assemblies about the importance of participating in athletics as part of National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
Ashley Applegate, Ashley Langoni, Brittany Mack and Juliana Santos spent the morning at Parkview Baptist, while Jacee Blades, Simone Heyward, Kailey McCasland, Dylan Supak and Tammy Wray dropped by St. Luke’s Episcopal before the team’s afternoon practice session.
“Today was a great experience,” McCasland said. “Last year at this time, I was a girl in high school listening to other women college athletes speak about NGWSD. I am really happy that I was able to be a part of today’s event and hope that I influenced the girls to be more active in the sports that they play.”
The Tigers stressed the importance of health and wellness in addition to touching upon the importance of Title IX to the students. Afterwards, the players quizzed the students about prominent female athletes and handed out prizes.
“It was amazing to know that we were able to educate these young girls on such an important day for all of women’s sports,” Mack said. “I loved the fact that all the girls were really attentive and eager to answer our trivia questions. They were excited that female collegiate athletes came to their school to speak to them, and we enjoyed spending part of our day with them.”
Started in 1987 to honor Olympic volleyball star Flo Hyman, National Girls and Women in Sports Day has grown into a nationwide celebration to honor the participation, success and accomplishments of girls and women athletes.
The Washington D.C. celebration is organized by five national organizations for girls and women – Girls’ Incorporated, Girl Scouts of the USA, National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, National Women’s Law Center and the Women’s Sports Foundation. The theme of this year’s event is “Title IX at 40: In it for the Long Run.”