With Help From Snider Hockey, Young Women Hit The Ice On National Girls And Women In Sports Day
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Wednesday was National Girls and Women in Sports Day, celebrating and recognizing female athletes. On the University of Pennsylvania's campus, some young women laced up their skates.
Behind the pigtails on No. 4's jersey, were two words: Beast Mode. It's a call to action on the ice.
"My favorite color is pink," 9-year-old Mackenzie Martinez said.
Mackenzie has been playing hockey for six years.
"Boys think that you can't play hockey, but you really can," she said.
On National Girls and Women in Sports Day, about 50 players from Snider Hockey participated in an on-ice clinic.
"I think the little ones are just excited to be here," Casey Kilduff, Snider Hockey's Girls Hockey Programs Senior Coordinator, said. "I think the older ones see it more because they are growing up in a world where it's tough to be a girl."
By age 14, twice as many girls drop out of sports compared to boys, according to the Women's Sports Foundation.
It's a stat that Snider Hockey -- created by the late Philadelphia Flyers Chairman Ed Snider -- has been working to change.
"We just want to make sure that everybody is as supported and as welcome as possible," Kilduff said.
The young women were not only welcome on the ice inside of the University of Pennsylvania's Class of 1923 Arena, they owned it.
"There was never any hesitation from my girls because they know whatever boys can do, girls can do. Sometimes, girls can do it better," Jennifer Martinez, Mackenzie's mom, said.
So what advice does Mackenzie have for even younger female players?
"I would probably tell them you got this. Come on," Mackenzie said.
