Honoring the tradition started by Billie Jean King in 1974, St. Lawrence University student-athletes hosted their fifth annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day event on Saturday, April 13. The event, hosted by the St. Lawrence University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), welcomed children from the greater Canton community to play, compete, and achieve in co-ed activities led by student-athletes.

"It's important that young girls see women playing sports in college so they know they could have a similar opportunity when the time comes," said Amy, the mother of two participants. "Sometimes you have to see it in order to achieve it."
 
As the participants rotated from station-to-station, they practiced with and learned skills from current St. Lawrence student-athletes. Men's and women's ice hockey, men's and women's basketball, track & field/cross country, volleyball, field hockey, and men and women's soccer led the six stations. Team members from Alpine ski, Nordic ski, swimming and diving, crew and football were group leaders and ushered participants to each station.

The event ended with the 35 participants escorting the women's lacrosse team on to the field and standing with them during the national anthem before their conference game against Bard.  The 16-6 victory was especially sweet with young athletes in the stands cheering on the Saint's victory each step of the way.

"With the support of many young girls and boys prior to the game, our athletes felt inspired to perform at the highest level," said assistant women's lacrosse coach Morgan Bruno.
 
Event chair and co-organizer of the event, Sydney Giacin '21, took inspiration from personal experience when coming up with the plan for the National Girls and Women in Sports Day event this year.

"When I was a kid my youth team had a chance to escort the women's national soccer team onto the field," explained Sydney. "It made me feel so cool to be a part of the gam and it sparked the love that I have for sports and competition. I wanted to give the young athletes in our community an opportunity like that, hopefully one that could inspire them to continue sports at a higher level."

This event marks the end of the year for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.  SAAC will begin hosting events again at the start of the academic year in September 2019.  Traditionally, the first event of the year is Power of Pink week where student-athletes raise money for the Ogdensburg Breast Cancer Foundation to support breast cancer patients, survivors, and their families living in the North Country.

The St. Lawrence University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee would like to extend special gratitude to Hannah Corkery-Collins '11, head coach women's lacrosse; Morgan Bruno, assistant coach women's lacrosse; and the entire women's lacrosse team. Additional special thanks to Sydney Giacin '21 and Alexandra Price '19 for their work in planning and executing this year's event.