An impressive array of athletic activity met participants at Sunday’s Play Like a Girl+ event on Witter Field, the Piedmont Recreation Department’s day of fun designed to encourage more participation by girls in youth sports and athletic activities. The inaugural event last year attracted over 400 participants from throughout the region, and event organizer and PRD’s Recreation Supervisor Eva Phalen said in an email on Monday that this year’s event drew more than 700 participants (around 550 pre-registered and another 200 day-of) and their families.
The event was publicized beyond Piedmont’s borders and received coverage from local CBS affiliate KPIX. (View the video HERE.)
Olympian Diana Vollmer signed autographs and posed for photos with participants 
Participants watched live demonstrations and stopped by 22 stations where attendees could try out different sports and meet professional women athletes and female Olympians, including 7-time Olympic medalist Dana Vollmer.
The Play Like a Girl+ Piedmont was free to attend and open to all female-identifying youth ages 2-18, as well as nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, and genderqueer youth.
PRD partnered with 27 local organizations that offered 22 different sports stations scattered around the high school athletic field, Wildwood playground, and spilled over onto the high school baseball field. Featured sports included: basketball, boxing, cheerleading, field hockey, golf, hockey, lacrosse, mountain biking, pickleball, rowing, rugby, running, self defense, skateboarding, soccer, sports medley, squash, swimming, track and field, Ultimate Frisbee, and volleyball. Students from Piedmont Middle School sports teams were also on hand.
Additionally, the Girl Scouts offered an Outdoor Skills station and representatives from the Positive Coaching Alliance and the Center for Sport and Social Justice were on site as well.
Future middle schoolers 
View from the hill 
Spectators watch a track and field demo 
A Skyhawks activity
(Photos via Eva Phalen and Exedra staff)
Congratulations, Piedmont Rec Department! When I was a girl, an event like this would have meant the world to me. Thank you for reaching out to, and supporting, today’s girls, helping to realize the goals of Title IX!