(February 2, 2004)                                                                                          Hot News Main Page

WNBA CELEBRATES NATIONAL GIRLS AND WOMEN IN SPORTS DAY
 

NEW YORK, NY (February 2, 2004) – The WNBA announced today that on February 4, the league will join thousands of sports educators, coaches, students and parents across the country in support of National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD).

            “All of us associated with the WNBA, from players to coaches to front office personnel and administrators, have seen first hand the benefits that participation in athletics can have for girls and women of all ages,” said WNBA President Val Ackerman. “We’re honored to be part of an event that not only celebrates the contributions of female athletes past, present and future, but continues to bring attention to the importance of expanded opportunities for girls and women in the athletics arena.”

A number of WNBA teams, including the Connecticut Sun, Houston Comets, and Indiana Fever, are celebrating the event by joining with local youth basketball teams involved in the Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA program. More than 500,000 boys and girls, ages 5-14 years old from across the United States, Canada and abroad, participate in 1,000 Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA member leagues during the youth basketball season.

Highlights of the WNBA events include new Phoenix Mercury owners Anne Mariucci and Kathy Munro attending the Phoenix Women’s Sports Foundation Dinner along with Mercury forward Kayte Christensen; the Houston Comets Kelley Gibson hosting children from MacGregor Elementary and Judson Robinson Community Center in a visit to the John P. McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science where she will address the students on proper nutrition, exercise and fitness gained from playing sports; and Sacramento’s Lady Grooms paying a visit to the Marcus Jewish Community Center in Atlanta Georgia to celebrate the positive influence of sports participation on the lives of girls and women.

National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) was chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1986 to honor female athletic achievement and recognize the importance of sports and fitness participation for all girls and women.

NGWSD is celebrated in all 50 states with community-based events, award ceremonies, and activities honoring the achievements and encouraging participation of girls and women in sports. It began in 1987 as a day to remember Olympic volleyball player Flo Hyman for her athletic achievements and her work to assure equality for women's sports. Hyman died of Marfan's Syndrome in 1986 while competing in a volleyball tournament in Japan. Since that time, NGWSD has evolved into a day to acknowledge the past and recognize current sports achievements, the positive influence of sports participation, and the continuing struggle for equality and access for women in sports.

The WNBA begins its eighth season of competition on May 20. ABC will televise a rematch of last year’s WNBA Finals on May 29, as the Los Angeles Sparks travel to Detroit to take on the Shock at 4 p.m. Game 3 of the 2003 WNBA Finals between the Shock and Sparks drew a WNBA-record 22,076 fans to the Palace of Auburn Hills as Detroit laid claim to its first WNBA championship. In 2003, more than 2 million fans attended WNBA games marking the fourth consecutive season that milestone was reached.

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[Source: John Maxwell, (212) 407-8641, jmaxwell@wnba.com ; Jay Moore, (212) 407-8022, jmoore@wnba.com]