Monday, February 5, 2007

The Big Game is Tonight!

This is not a mistake. The big game really is tonight! (In fact, the first two Mondays every February.) Forget the Superbowl, tonight is the opening round in the 55th Annual Beanpot.
My alma mater takes on Harvard in the nightcap at 8 p.m. In the opening game, Northeastern hopefully will beat Boston University. (If you are a Boston College grad, you just can't root on B.U. It would be like a Red Sox Fan cheering on the Yankees.)
My daughter Bella is taking skating lessons this year. I was thrilled when she told me she wanted hockey skates. In fact, the first thing she said after trying on the skates was, "Where's my stick?"
Well, first things first, she needed to learn to get up and down without a toe pick and stand for at least 10 seconds without falling - which she learned to do on Saturday. Now, we are onto actually skating around the rink without falling.
Okay, it's far too early --- but I'm hopeful for a hockey scholarship - anywhere but Boston University. Womens athletics have come a long way since the 1970s, girls hockey included.
The latest numbers nationally show that close to 50,000 girls nationwide now play hockey and the most remarkable growth in girls hockey can be found with the 10-and-under level, which has added nearly 3,000 players since 2000.
Today in Massachusetts, more than 6,700 girls (age 18 and under) play hockey, including more than 1,330 girls age 6 and under. That makes the Bay State one of the top two states for girls hockey.
Thirty-five years ago when I was Bella's age, few girls played hockey.
Today, the numbers show a different story.
Yesterday, while watching the Super Bowl, Bella asked, "Do girls play football?"
I said, "They could, if they wanted to; but not in this game or at this level right now." Perhaps 35 years from now, they will.
By the way if you are interested, the women's Beanpot tournament begins tomorrow night at Conte Form in Chestnut Hill.
#9 ranked Boston College (who are ranked higher nationally than their male counterparts this year) take on Harvard University at 8 p.m.

1 comment:

faith3 said...

I am a fan of Bay State Parent and I love your new blog. I agree there are so many more opportunities for girls to play athletics today, then when we were kids. We have three children, two girls and a boy. We plan to teach all three to skate, and as both my husband and I are Boston University grads, we wouldn't be opposed to that BU hockey scholarship for all three. By the way, I expect out team will be celebrating another beanpot championship come next monday.