Local Students to See Sparks’ First Game

In the culminating event of a new school district program designed to advance the athletic prowess and self-confidence of elementary school girls, 11 fourth- and fifth-graders from Fernangeles Elementary School will attend the inaugural game of the Women’s National Basketball Assn. today at the Great Western Forum.

In November, members of the Francis Polytechnic High School girls basketball team began providing coaching and encouragement to girls from Strathern Street Elementary in North Hollywood and Fernangeles as part of the Playground Parity program in the Los Angeles Unified School District. After a series of clinics with the Poly players, teachers and the schools’ playground directors continued to work with the girls.

“The [Poly athletes] were nice and they helped us learn skills we didn’t have,” said Fernangeles fifth-grader Jackie Ordonez, who plans to try out for the Byrd Middle School basketball team next year.

Playground Parity, administered by the district’s Gender Equity Commission and funded by private grants, has been a success at Fernangeles, where about 15 girls competed in LAUSD sports tournaments this year, said fifth-grade teacher Mike Friedman.

The girls won tickets to the WNBA game--which will feature the Los Angeles Sparks and the New York Liberty--after taking first place in a softball competition.

“These girls are proof that this type of stuff really works, and not only for sports; it’s changed their attitudes and made them feel they can tackle just about anything in life,” Friedman said.

Sharon Murphy, interim director of the Gender Equity Commission, said Playground Parity was established because at many schools the boys dominate playground sports. By giving girls the attention and time they need to learn fundamentals and gain confidence, she said, it puts them on more equal footing with the boys.

Fifth-grader Claudia Diaz agreed.

“Before, the boys told us we couldn’t play, but then we went to the softball tournament and won first place, so now they let us,” Claudia said.