On February 6th, WMC celebrated its third annual Female Athlete Recognition Night. The night was created to honor National Women and Girls in Sports day. This night highlights how many girls are already involved in high school athletics with the hopes of attracting more female athletes. The recognition night is necessary because female athletics are often underrepresented, resulting in 1.2 million fewer high school sports opportunities for girls than boys, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation.
This event took place at halftime during the girls’ varsity basketball game against Morris Hills. It honored each of WMC’s girls team’s accomplishments during the past season as well as their hard-earned awards and accomplishments. The teams represented were girl’s soccer, volleyball, cheerleading, cross-country, tennis, field hockey, swimming, basketball, fencing, lacrosse, winter track, spring track, all Unified sports, and softball.
The teams were announced by girls basketball coach Katie Patella. As each team walked through a tunnel of cheerleaders to the center of the gym, Coach Patella read a brief statement of that team’s record and if they made states/counties during their season. The ceremony was followed by a photo of each team and a large group photo at the end.
After the announcements and photos, WMC’s athlete of the year was named and she was commended for her efforts in athletics. Congratulations to Jillian Nestor for achieving this award for soccer and spring track!
The night was organized and run by Coach Patella who has been WMC’s head softball coach for five years, and the head girl’s basketball coach for four and a half years. She is an advocate for women’s sports especially at the high school level; she specifically appreciates the “comradery between players” and “how hard the girls work all the time.” Patella notes that the appreciation for women’s sports has improved, and “women have continued to prove that they are just as talented, in different ways, as male athletes.” Specifically, Patella mentions the controversy at the March Madness NCAA tournament a few years ago when the “women…were eating prepackaged meals and had no weight room to workout in, while the men had buffet meals and an entire weight room,”
At the collegiate level, Patella mentions how the “viewership in women’s sports has risen exponentially,” She mentions that at the last US Open tournament, “3.4 million people watched Coco Gauff’s win, while 2.3 million viewers watched Novak Djokovic’s win.” This improvement is impressive and should be celebrated, though Patella states that “I’m excited for the day when we don’t need to celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day because we’ve achieved equality nationally and discrepancies don’t exist.”