Over 400 girls and their families showed up at Witter Field on Sunday, May 15 to participate in the Piedmont Recreation Department’s first free field day event designed to introduce girls ages 2–18 to a range of sports in a fun and supportive environment. Along with the Piedmont Unified School District, organizations from Piedmont, Oakland, Berkeley, and beyond offered 20 different sports for girls to try out, including basketball, boxing, CrossFit, fencing, field hockey, flag football, hockey, judo, lacrosse, mountain biking, pickleball, rowing, rugby, squash, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, Utimate Frisbee, and volleyball. Olympic medal winners and professional athletes were on hand to take pictures and answer questions about their sport.
Olympic medalist Dana Vollmer brought three of her gold medals for attendees to see 
USA National Women’s Baseball player Tamara Holmes, 2008 Olympic Pole Vaulter Leila Ben Youssef, 3x Olympic Swimmer Dana Vollmer, and 2015 California Golden Glove Champion Boxer Dalia “La Pantera” Gomez 
The athletes answered questions at the demo area
A young girl learns throwing and catching techniques from an Ultimate Frisbee player 
Mary Wells and Molly Lloyd provide info on upcoming events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX 
A young girl tries pole vaulting under the direction of PHS pole vaulters 
The Piedmont Mountain Bike Club had a mountain bike set up for the girls to try out 
Members of The Artemis Rowing Team instructed girls on how to use a rowing machine 
Attendees listened as four athletes talked about their sports and experience as athletes 
A little girl gives hockey a try 
The PHS volleyball team taught little ones how to bump and pass 
Council member Conna McCarthy, PRD’s Katrina Morris, Karen Sullivan, and David Hopkins at one of the check-in stations 
A youngster at the USTA station 
Recreation Department helpers Maddie and Ciara help with check in and information 
A young girl at the pole vaulting area 
A girl learns to play lacrosse at the Skyline Lacrosse demo area 
A soccer enthusiast 
Running full steam ahead for the long jump 
At the cross fit station, a girl is timed for the bar hang 
Dalia “La Pantera” Gomez teaches boxing to a young girl at the event
What a fabulous event! Congratulations to the Piedmont Recreation Department for a huge success. The Title IX celebration t-shirts and hoodies sold out in the first day, but we’ll be placing another order this week. Go to http://www.piedmontstore.org/products/title-ix. Order by May 20th! Thanks to all the volunteers who made this event special and are working to remind us why Title IX matters to female athletes.