Local organizations remotely hosted a musical event celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day on Thursday.
The San Jose Museum of Art and San Jose Jazz hosted the event through a Zoom call where only speakers and performers were on camera, but participants discussed the topics of the night through the chat box feature and shared athletic resources.
The event was also hosted by San Jose State’s Institute for the Study of Sports, Society and Social Change (ISSSSC) and The Wall of Song’s Feeling Good Project.
Wall of Song is a collaborative art and civic singing platform that’s been active since 2017 according to its website.
The event commemorated the 35th anniversary of National Girls and Women in Sports Day which was on Feb. 3, but is typically celebrated throughout the beginning of the month.
Bonnie Sugiyama, director of the PRIDE Center and Gender Equity Center at San Jose State, said it’s crucial to have a space acknowledging the accomplishments of women and girls because the road hasn’t been easy.
“I think it’s essentially important that we celebrate [womens’] ability to be in this space and to have these opportunities,” Sugiyama said during the event.
The theme of the night was “Lead Her Forward,” a phrase aimed at motivating girls and women of all ages to claim their spots in the athletic world and was inspired by Nina Simone’s
song “Feeling Good.”
“This is an anthem of solidarity that promotes mental and physical well-being for all and advocacy for women athletics and a more equitable racially just community,” Executive Director of the ISSSSC Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique said during the event.
The night was organized to not only focus on female athletes but on social justice and change.
To follow this, different topics were put into focus during the night including the history of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, the future of sports and community work done
by athletes.
The event also highlighted female staff and student-athletes at SJSU including Natasha Harris, a senior soccer player, who helped create a social justice and sports fundraiser over the summer last year.
The fundraiser was made following the death of George Floyd to raise money for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Student-athletes would post themselves on social media being active for 8.46 miles or 8.46 minutes, the amount of time Floyd was under the knee of officer
Derek Chauvin.
“It ended up spreading a lot more than we anticipated we couldn’t even keep track of how many schools were participating and we ended up beating our goal of $1,000 and raising over $79,000,” Harris said.
At the end of the night, a special performance was made by soprano soloist Danielle Marie along with SJSU choir singers and an arrangement performed by the Spartan Marching Band.
The performance was a call and response where Marie sang one line of “Feeling Good” and the choir of volunteers sang the following line.
Marie was on one screen while the multitude of singers would show up alongside her as the song continued and ended with the group singing together.
The night concluded with multiple thanks to all the participants and affiliates of the event, but also with calls to action for the audience.
“Continue to lead her forward in whatever way that you know best in social change,” Carter-Francique said. “We ask that of you. That’s our charge to you and we hope that you will support us in these efforts.”
