Central Park

The Daily Plant : Tuesday, February 20, 2001

A FIELD DAY FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN IN BROOKLYN AND NATIONWIDE

In one room the connection between neighborhood recreation and professional sports, between kids, college athletes, and professional athletes was made visible: on Saturday, February 10, 2001, assembled at St. John's Recreation Center at 1251 Prospect Place in Brooklyn were professional football and soccer players and the girls and women who play those sports as well as dozens of others traditionally considered the province of men, or outside the realm of sports. It was the country's 15th National Girls and Women in Sports Day and Parks' third. From 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. females of all ages entered St. James Recreation Center for an athletic taste test organized by Parks Recreation. When they left, it was with new skills, inspirational words, and goodie bags in their pockets.

The Parkies who organized the event programmed a mix of educational and athletic activity. A competition of senior swimmers drew a crowd of enthusiastic fans. Midday, a panelist of women professionals fielded questions and shared stories from the field. Nancy (Liberty) Barthold moderated. Panelists included a women's professional soccer player, a women's professional football player, a physical therapist, a marketing manager for Madison Square Garden, a local marathoner, an author, and a rollerblader. At the close of the day, women's lacrosse and field hockey players from Columbia University instructed participants in small group clinics. The featured sports of the day included boxing, soccer, and karate as well as cheerleading, double dutch and dance. The wide range was designed to emphasize how female athletes can redefine what activities constitute sports and which ones women can participate in.

Robert (Iceman) Garafola, Deputy Commissioner; Nancy Barthold, Brooklyn Chief of Operations; Mike (Satellite) Dockett, Brooklyn Chief of Recreation; Karen Gripper, St. John's Center Manager; Vernetta Diggs, Sunset Center Manager; Emily (Little Rhody) Brennan, Deputy Director of Central Recreation; Stephanie (Elroy) George, Intern with Central Recreation; and Eva (Striker) Johnson, Administrator at Brownsville Recreation Center, organized this year's National Girls and Women in Sports Day and saw it through to completion. Sports Illustrated Women, Fitness Magazine, NY Power, Fresh Samantha, United Soccer Academy, and the Women's Sports Foundation sponsored the event, and many volunteers donated their time and talents to support it too.

Five preliminary events helped drum up interest in each borough. Jeff (Silk) Houston, former NBA player, taught a girl's basketball clinic at St. Mary's Recreation Center in the Bronx. In Brooklyn a computers and sports workshop was offered at St. John's. Manhattan recreation hosted a basic climbing workshop in Central Park's North Meadow. Lost Battalion Hall in Queens offered field hockey, lacrosse and volleyball clinic. For spectators there were cheerleading, rhythmic gymnastics, and double dutch demonstrations. Janis Brody author of Your Body: The Girl's Guide, lectured to an interested group in Jennifer's Playground, Staten Island. She returned to participate in the panel at St. John's.

National Girls and Women's in Sports Fay was created in 1987 by the Women's Sports Foundation to commemorate the achievements of Olympic volleyball player Flo Hyman; she passed away unexpectedly while competing in Japan in 1986.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO IN THE PLANT
(Monday, February 29, 1988)

BRONX PEP OFFICERS ARREST CHAIN SNATCHER

On Thursday, February 25, Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) Officer Mary Duncan caught and arrested a 15-year-old Bronx youth accused of attempted robbery in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx.

Officer Duncan said that she was on patrol at approximately 2:30 p.m. when she witnessed eight youth quarreling on the median divider of Mosholu Parkway off Jerome Avenue, directly across from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. Duncan was in a Parks vehicle at the time driving along Mosholu Parkway.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

"I just try to concentrate on concentrating."

Martina Navratilova

Know Before You Go

Harlem Meer Center (formerly Lasker Rink)

Harlem Meer Center