SJA Celebrates National Girls and Women in Sports Day
Free admission for area girls to the SJA home basketball games on Tuesday, February 4.
This season marks the 100th anniversary of St. Johnsbury Academy’s first varsity girls’ basketball team, and Wednesday, February 5th marks the 34th Celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. In honor of both occasions, local girls’ basketball teams are invited to wear their team jerseys to receive free admission to St. Johnsbury Academy’s Tuesday night games against South Burlington High School. The JV team plays at 5:00 p.m. and the Varsity team plays at 6:30 p.m.
In describing the event, St. Johnsbury Academy Assistant Head for Campus Life and JV Girls’ Basketball Coach Beth Choiniere states, “Sports have always played an integral role in my life; the lessons I have learned through competition, both as a player and now an educator and coach, have helped me grow into the person I have become. All of us deal with adversity in our lives, and we have a responsibility as coaches to help young people learn how to deal with the pressures and challenges that life presents. That is the beauty of athletics: we give young people opportunities to learn and grow into people of character in both victory and defeat—it’s all about the journey. This is an event worthy of a yearly celebration. One of the greatest joys of my career has been working to motivate young women to be strong, and tenacious in athletics; to learn to expect more from themselves than they ever imagined was possible.”
Interestingly, the April 28, 1920 edition of the St. Johnsbury Republican describes the issuance of varsity letters to both the boys’ and girls’ teams at the end of that first season for St. Johnsbury girls’ basketball. Notably, the St. Johnsbury girls’ team had a 5-1 record.
Also stated in the St. Johnsbury Republican, “The SJA boys’ and girls’ basketball teams received their certificate, allowing those to wear the school letters, who had played in three games this season. In dispensing the certificate, St. Johnsbury Academy Principal Mr. Joseph A. Davis said that his prejudice against girls playing basketball was entirely disposed of, since he had seen what the girls had done for basketball, and what basketball had done for them.”
We hope you will join us for this fun night of basketball. The Academy JV team will be on the floor at halftime of the Varsity game to shoot around with local female athletes. Don’t forget your uniform and gym shoes.
