Basketball has always been a family affair for Darcy Rose '09, co-captain of Dartmouth's women's basketball team.
"I grew up surrounded by brothers, so I always had someone to practice with," she said. "My dad also encouraged the tomboy in me, so I always felt like everyone in the family supported me in my decision to start playing."
Picking up the game in elementary school, Rose said she felt that encouragement came from all corners of her community.
"I started playing basketball in fourth grade, and then began playing competitively by sixth grade," she said. "I guess I was lucky, since I never really felt restricted or pressured by anything just because I was a girl."
Rose joined the generations of women in the post-Title IX era that have grown up shooting baskets, kicking soccer balls and participating in virtually any sport they chose.
Nonetheless, as Rose recalled her own mother's experience playing basketball, she recognized the clear impact of the 37-year-old legislation on gender equity in sports.
"My mom played recreational basketball, but it was a little bit different back in her time," she said. "I remember her telling me that the girls on her team did not get the same opportunities to play as the boys. I feel like great strides have been made to try to give girls the chances to participate in sports."
National Girls and Women in Sports Day calls attention to Title IX's attempt to shatter assumptions about women in sports.
Established in 1987 by a Congressional resolution, NGWSD seeks to publicize the steps taken thus far to elevate women's sports to their current level.
The national celebration, which took place on Feb. 4 this year, is marked annually with community-based events around the country and on Capitol Hill.
Celebrations will continue to take place around the country until early March, according to the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance's events calendar.
NGWSD is supported by organizations, including the Girl Scouts of the USA, Girls Incorporated, the National Association for Girls and Women in Sports, National Women's Law Center and the Women's Sports Foundation.
This past weekend, Dartmouth hosted a "Take a Girl to a Game" NGWSD event in an effort to encourage girls to take up athletics and to combat low attendance at women's sporting events.
The College's celebration spanned the entire weekend.
Girls and boys participating on local area sport teams were given free admission to the Big Green women's basketball game against University of Pennsylvania on Feb. 20 and the women's hockey game against St. Lawrence University on Feb. 21.
Jillian Frey, Dartmouth's varsity sports coordinator, said she believes NGWSD is an important event for Dartmouth.
"It's a crucial issue to us at Dartmouth," she said. "I think it's important for younger kids to see their role models playing the game that they love. But overall, the event is a great recognition for the strides that girl athletes have made."
Frey explained that the athletic department worked with Dartmouth's director of community relations, Peter Glenshaw, to distribute information regarding the national celebration around the area to local schools and sporting organizations.
The Dartmouth Bookstore also helped publicize the event by posting flyers and sending out newsletters.
In addition, the bookstore set up shop at the games, displaying various books that dealt with the stories of women overcoming barriers in the athletic world.
Besides free admission to the games, Frey said that local children were offered a variety of promotional items, including T-shirts with the official NGWSD logo.
Various raffles were also held during the women's games, as selected participants received a team basketball, hockey stick and hockey jersey signed by the entire Big Green line-up.
The free admission allowed Don Hoh, head coach of the under-14 girl's Kearsarge hockey team, to show his players what the future might hold for them if they continue to pursue their athletic dreams, he said.
"The girls like to come up here and watch Dartmouth play so it gives them an outlook on what they could play up to," he said. "They can learn how to play better and see what there is out there for girls to play up to."
Hoh explained that his players enjoy watching a team as competitive and talented as Dartmouth's squad.
"They like watching the Dartmouth girls play," Hoh said. "There's no checking, so there's real good, clean hockey. It's just a good fast-paced game, and really, if you can appreciate that, then that's all you need. "
Hoh applauded the efforts taken during the last few decades to break down the barriers that previously prevented women from participating in hockey.
"Girls now have to have equal teams, whether it is in hockey or any other sport," he said. "The opportunity is for girls that want to participate and to better themselves. It's not just the boys' world anymore. The girls have a chance."
Nevertheless, while athletic opportunities have been institutionally equalized for women, Hoh explained that they are not yet fair in execution.
"When younger girls come to a women's hockey game, they come to watch the game, and to observe the girls actually playing," he said. "Unfortunately, you don't get a big crowd like in the men's game."
Hoh suggested that this lackluster attendance reflected broader issues impeding the growth of women's professional teams.
"The one thing I don't agree with is that there's not that much opportunity for girls in the professional sports," he said. "There's no real pro hockey or pro basketball. And honestly, after college, [women] can play in the Olympics, but it seems that that's as far as they could go."
While Rose found limited turnout at women's sporting events troubling, she said she felt that efforts were still being taken to expand the media coverage of women's professional sporting events.
"I noticed on TV that they're showing more advertisements for the women's Final Four," she said. "I just think that women's basketball, at least, is getting much more publicity and a lot more attention from the general public."
Rose added that she had seen an overall boost in the turnout at the Dartmouth women's basketball games from the student body and members of community.
"I think that the women's team, especially this year, has gotten a lot more people at our games than maybe in the past. I feel like there's been a really strong attendance from people from the local areas and from Dartmouth students."
NGWSD, for its part, focuses on garnering more attention for professional women's sports.
Events surrounding the celebration often spotlight the accomplishments of current and past professional female athletes.
According to the Women's Sports Foundation's website, the first NGWSD was held in Washington, D.C. to pay tribute to the 1984 Olympic volleyball silver medalist Flo Hyman.
Hyman, who unexpectedly died of Marfan's Syndrome during a volleyball game in 1986, strived to assure equality for women's sports throughout her life.
