Hundreds of Colorado women inspire girls to get involved with sports in inaugural Girls in the Game event
Did you attend our inaugural Girls in the Game event? CBS Colorado hosted the expo on Saturday at the University of Denver. Hundreds of women from dozens of sports organizations and professional teams joined us, sharing insights on their careers on and off the field.
The event was a dream come true for young girls. Thirty organizations and more than 110 women inspired an amazing group of girls and young women who joined us.
"You figure out what passion you have at events like this and you figure out what you're good at," one girl said about her experience.
The message behind Girls in the Game at CBS Colorado is "if you see it, you can be it."
Simone, 11, plays soccer and basketball and wrote "the next Caitlin Clark" on a card with the prompt "I aspire to be:"
"She was really good at soccer and basketball," Simone said. "She's brought women's sports into view."
The women at the event shared their past experiences.
"I went to play volleyball, but I stayed because I fell in love with a bigger team: the team of the United States Air Force," said retired Col. Jen Block, executive director of athletic programs at the Air Force Academy, and former captain of the volleyball team there.
They discussed their current jobs and future opportunities for girls in the sports industry.
"I want to be a gymnast coach," one girl said as she watched a University of Denver Pioneers gymnast twirl on a beam.
Outside on Hamilton Field, girls played football, did gymnastics and worked on other skills in the sports they were drawn to, as collegiate athletes and coaches trained new athletic skills in sports clinics.
Inside the gym, girls learned that their careers could continue off the courts and fields.
"There are so many opportunities, even after competitive athletics, in athletics that we need more women's voices in," Block said.
You can see photos from Girls in the Game here:
"It's not just what's happening on the court, it's what's behind it," said retired Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy. "There's a whole industry that goes into sports."
Discovering opportunities in the sports industry are endless.
"I pick the talent, I work with the talent, I coach the talent, I work with marketing, I work with sales. I work with all aspects of the station," said Amanda Brown, program director for 104.3 KKFN Denver Sports Radio.
That's what Girls in the Game is all about: Women teaching girls and empowering each other to believe, achieve and build a career in sports.
"If you know what is important to you, it will be easy to make decisions in your life and keep achieving," said Carol Callan, central board member at FIBA and former director of USA Women's Basketball.
"It inspires me. It says these women are really strong and they had the motivation to go out here and do all this amazing stuff, which is really cool," another girl in attendance said. "I want to be just like them."
You can watch all our interviews leading up to the export here.