Over 100 girls learned to “Play Like a Girl” at a sports clinic hosted by Oberlin Athletics for the third year in a row last Saturday in celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. Student-athletes and coaches from eight varsity teams coached girls aged five to fourteen in the fundamentals of lacrosse, volleyball, field hockey, basketball, softball and badminton.

While only 30 kids came to play last year, this year the clinic grew not only in attendance, but also in the sports it offered, with softball and badminton offered for the first time.

Head Softball Coach Sara Schoenhoft, the event’s organizer, said that the clinic is a great experience for the girls because they get to see student-athletes from women’s teams in action.

“To see how much [the girls] look up to our student-athletes — I don’t think our players think about themselves as role models for a five- or six-year old in the community but they really are,” Schoenhoft said. “Those girls getting a chance to interact with our female athletes is a great experience — a really positive experience to see a strong, female role model.”