Schools
Pearl River Girls Hoops Wins Girls & Women In Sports Day Game
Pearl River celebrated National Girls & Women in Sports Day at halftime of Thursday's 65-30 girls basketball victory over Spring Valley.
Pearl River took time out from Thursday's _girls basketball victory over Spring Valley_ to celebrate the growth of women's athletics and point out the room for it to continue.
The _National Girls & Women in Sports Day_ ceremony took place during an extended halftime, perhaps too extended for Pearl River Head Coach Lorraine Moylan.
"Coach Moylan is making faces at me now because it was supposed to be 15 minutes," said announcer Jo Mosella, who led the proceedings and gave a speech on the history of NGWSD and this year's theme -- "Title IX at 40: In It For The Long Run."
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"Today we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Title IX," Mosella said. "Title IX is a federal law that says, 'No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal assistance."
Mosella went on to point out that in 1971, before Title IX, only one in 27 girls participated in high school sports. Now one in three high school girls participates. The national average is up to eight girls sports teams per school. Pearl River had 14.
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Pearl River honored modified volleyball coach Marie Killeen Walmsley with the 2012 Lauren Buonocore Girls & Women in Sports Day award for her contributions to girls athletics. Walmsley has been coaching at Pearl River since 2001 and is a teacher at Lincoln Avenue Elementary School.
The proceedings also included the winner of a Pearl River Middle School essay contest run by teacher Lisa Linehan. Fifth grader Alexys Warner read her winning essay about the changes in women's athletics from when her grandmother played until now.
The players on both teams were given flowers and Moylan was honored for her accomplishments, including reaching _500 career victories_ earlier this season.
"Very, very nice," Moylan said of the entire celebration. "It is nice for the girls to see that, to see them honoring Marie for her dedication to coaching females. It’s nice to see the coaches coming back and other people who have received the award come back. To see that Pearl River really cares about girls sports. Jo Mosella did an awesome job announcing it."
