LEBANON SPORTS FESTIVAL

March 13, 2009 -- LEBANON SPORTS FESTIVAL

By Jeff Friedman, Jaeger Civic Intern

Three weeks ago, the Dartmouth Women's Softball and Volleyball teams volunteered in the Lebanon Sports Festival. The event had many athletes from high schools in the area and from Dartmouth. The sports fest was an event that celebrated the National Women in Sports Day of February 4, 2009. It is the thirty year anniversary of Title IX. The event brought in many girls between the ages of 4 and 12 to learn the basic instructions and skills for various sports. Dartmouth athletes, like the women's volleyball and softball players, served as instructors and coaches for their young counterparts.

Annie Villanueva, a freshman on the Women's Volleyball team, recounts her experience. “We all went to the Lebanon gym and set up stations, where groups of girls would rotate between each station. We would teach them the very basic fundamentals of volleyball and they would practice the skills and then a new group would rotate in.” Villanueva expressed her enjoyment at seeing how much of a great time the girls were having with volleyball. She also added, “We devote so much time to training, practice, and strategy that it was great to be reminded of just how much FUN it can be.” Villaneuva and the other volleyball players certainly served as role models for the young girls participating in the day's events, helping to instill in them a fun, competitive spirit just like that which a Dartmouth athlete possesses. Villanueva had nothing but great things to say about the day and her experience working with the kids and said “I hope that Sports Fest is something we can do as a team in the future!”

While Villanueva and the Women's Volleyball team were teaching young girls the basic skills of serving, setting, blocking, and passing, the Women's softball team was teaching fundamental skills such as positioning for ground balls and batting. Audrey Kolodziej, a Sophomore on the Women's Softball team had a great time volunteering and said, “We took them through some basic technical drills involving ground ball approach, the triangle used for picking up a ground ball, and introduced shuffling of the feet to move to a particular spot on the field.” Before each group of girls left their station, Kolodziej said that the team taught the girls their “secret” huddle chant. Kolodziej concluded that “Overall, it was a nice opportunity to get the chance to work with the younger girls, not only for the actual teaching of softball, but also for the chance to see them experiencing something they may have never gotten the opportunity to do.” Like her teammate Kolodziej, Molly Khalil, a freshman on the Girl's Softball team also had a great time at the event. She enthusiastically said, “it was great to see the competitive fire in the little kids, and nice to see them having fun. I hope they realize how great sports really are, and am glad I could be a part of their Women in Sports Day.”

The Lebanon Sports Festival seems to have created a great bonding experience between the Dartmouth athletes and the young girls that they coached during the event. All of the Dartmouth student-athletes seem really excited about doing the event next year!

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