PHOTOAshley Spurgeon, a Valparaiso High School softball player, guides Julia St. John, 9, through the fundamentals of batting Thursday afternoon at Flint Lake Elementary School in Valparaiso. (LARRY A. BRETTS/POST-TRIBUNE)
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Over the span of less than a decade, the opportunities afforded Lindsay Prou's younger sister through athletics are greater than she had.The Valparaiso High School tennis player joined fellow female athletes Thursday at Flint Lake Elementary School to encourage young people to take advantage of athletics.
'Now, there's soccer, basketball - things I didn't have,' Prou said.
Women athletes now push beyond the stereotypical cheerleading, track and gymnastics. Before, there was little in the way of school sports.
Lorie Cook, Valparaiso High School's gymnastics coach, graduated from high school in 1971 from a school that did not offer sports for girls. Her mother, a physical education teacher, encouraged Lorie's participation in intramural sports teams.
'Our high school had zero high school sports,' Cook said. 'It was very, very low-level organization at that time.'
'These girls are very lucky,' she said.
Thursday's push to encourage young girls to participate in athletics was part of National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
At Flint Lake, girls talked with coaches and athletes and then broke into groups to sample sports in the gymnasium. The groups rotated among cheerleading, softball, tennis and volleyball.
The day acknowledges past and current sports achievements, the influence of sports participation and efforts to gain equal access for women in sports.
The battle for equity begins first with a changing of mindset, said Flint Lake physical education teacher Willa Nuppnau.
'The hard part is breaking through the stereotype, and it's with the parents,' Nuppnau said. 'I see parents of sons almost forcing them into sports but I see parents of girls making it more a choice.'
Participation in sports clubs for young children is about 10 percent girls and 90 percent boys, Nuppnau said.
'In a lot of those programs that are coed, the girls are not participating,' she said. 'I want to give a little boost in the arm for them to start thinking about sports, or even to go home and ask to be in sports.'
Laney Martin went home more interested in sports than when she began her school day. The 7-year-old does not participate in athletics.
'It was fun. I never did sports like that before,' Laney said.
Leah Downey did the splits while waiting in line to swing a baseball bat. Already active in sports, the 7-year-old relished a time away from her male counterparts.
'I'm glad there's no boys here,' Leah said. 'They annoy me.' THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED VERSION.
