It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained. ~ Author: Queen Elizabeth

In late January celebrations begin for the National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) and continue through February. It is supported by groups like the Girl Scouts of America, Girls Inc., National Women’s Law Center, National Association for Girls and Women in Sport (NAGWS) and the Women’s Sports Foundation. The official day for the 23rd anniversary of NGWSD is February 4, 2009.

Billie Jean King once said, “Women's sports is still in its infancy. The beginning of women's sports in the United States started in 1972, with the passage of Title 9 for girls to finally get athletic scholarships.” With such a statement as that and the fact that 35 years since the enactment of Title IX it is still estimated that 1.3 million fewer participation opportunities are available to young high school age girls today, would we consider women’s sports entering toddlerhood.

We can’t measure the lack of opportunities in women’s sports today at the high school level since laws have yet to be required to report information on cost of women’s sports compared to that of its counterpart.

Incredible women have achieved greatness in sports competition over the years. Just recently 56 year old Jennifer Figge became the first woman to swim the Atlantic when she reached Trinidad on February 5, 2009.

In honor of great sports women, here are a few inspirational quotes:

“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion. The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” Wilma Rudolph dubbed the “fastest woman in the world” at the 1960 Olympics.

“People said women couldn’t swim the Channel but I proved they could.” Gertrude Ederle

"Sports remain a great metaphor for life's more difficult lessons. It was through athletics that many of us first came to understand that fear can be tamed; that on a team the whole is more than the sum of its parts; and that the ability to be heroic lies, to a surprising degree, within." Susan Casey

"The values learned on the playing field--how to set goals, endure, take criticism and risks, become team players, use our beliefs, stay healthy and deal with stress--prepare us for life." Donna de Varona

“Some people say I have attitude - maybe I do...but I think you have to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does - that makes you a winner right there.” Venus Williams