Philadelphia sports franchises join forces to expose new sports to young girls

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- They say teamwork makes the dream work.

And on Monday, all six of our professional sports franchises in Philadelphia and their mascots teamed up to help expose young girls to any sport they could dream up.

"Getting girls to play sports is so important," says Monica Clark, the Phillies coordinator of youth baseball and softball development.

"It doesn't just teach them to be active, it teaches them life lessons, how to be a good friend, how to be a good teammate, how to be a leader. And those are so important for females to continue to grow whether they stay in sports or not," added Clark.

It's the first-ever Philadelphia Sports Girls Initiative at Citizen's Bank Park. For girls who had never put on a glove before or fired a slap shot, they got their chance to try their hand at baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, and lacrosse, with expert coaching to guide them along the way.

"Anytime we can get kids involved in sports, it's a good thing," former Phillies legend Mickey Morandini said. "We have six professional teams here so they can play each sport, get a feel for it, see what they like, what they don't like, what they're good at, what they need to work on. But the turnout is tremendous. We have like 200 girls here."

For 8-year-old Amina Smith, she says, "I'm here because I want to learn how to play basketball, different sports to get good and get better."

Nine-year-old Violet Turner adds, "One time this guy in my class said, 'girls can't be president, girls can't play basketball,' and I'm like, 'I play basketball and I bet you I can beat you.'"