LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Lock Haven University coaches and student-athletes are preparing a day of sports activities and clinics to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The events will take place on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at the Zimmerli Gymnasium and Thomas Fieldhouse on the campus of Lock Haven University, starting at 3:30 p.m. and ending about 6:30 p.m. The events are geared especially toward girls in grades 3 to 6, but those younger or older are welcome to participate. There is no cost.

National Girls and Women in Sports Day is an annual celebration of the participation of girls and women in sports. This year’s theme is “Look Who’s Playing.”

Organized by Lock Haven University field hockey head coach Pat Rudy, the event aims to bring local girls on campus and to encourage them to be active and to participate in sports. Several coaches and student-athletes from the LHU women’s athletics teams are on hand during the afternoon to conduct mini-sport clinics with all the participants. Following the clinic, LHU student-athletes will accompany participants to the Thomas Fieldhouse to cheer on the Lady Eagle basketball team in their 6 p.m. contest versus Clarion University. Girls will enjoy a pizza party and will also receive recognition and certificates of participation during halftime of the game.

The LHU Athletics National Girls and Women in Sports Day Clinic is one of more than 1,000 events taking place across the country for National Girls and Women in Sports Day. It recognizes the progress of girls and women in sports and the benefits that sports and fitness activities can bring to the lives of all girls and women. The day is organized nationally by the Girl Scouts of the USA, Girls Incorporated, National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, the National Women’s Law Center and the Women’s Sports Foundation.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to be able to welcome girls to campus, to introduce them to our sports and our student-athletes, and also to be able to emphasize the benefits - health, social, and educational – of an active lifestyle,” said Rudy. "I truly hope we can draw a good crowd from the local area. Encouraging girls, and boys too, at a young age to experience all the things sports have to offer is something so many of us in athletics find truly important.”

For further information, contact Pat Rudy at (570)-484-2722 or prudy@lhup.edu.