Welcome, LUDY!

Hey! It's a hot afternoon in July, and I'm ready to start this blog. As many of you know, my newest book (scheduled for release on August 8, 2017) is Long-armed Ludy and the First Women's Olympics, a nonfiction picture book based on the true story of Lucile (Ludy) Godbold.

As a countdown to publication, I'm going to use this blog to feature women's athletes from today and yesteryear (such a fun word!) Anyway, my plans are to cover a wide variety of sports, but don't be surprised if there's a bias towards track and field. 

So why not start with Ludy? Here are the basics. She was born in Marion County, South Carolina, and attended Winthrop College (a women's college) during the years 1917-1922. There, she excelled in field hockey, basketball, and track and field where she sprinted, hurdled, long-jumped, & even threw the discus.

But Ludy didn't make herself known as a shot-putter until her final year at Winthrop. And that's when things started to happen.

But here's the cool thing: Ludy's participation in sports was not unusual. Winthrop College (as well as other progressive women's colleges) encouraged and even required young women to take part in physical education.

So often people think that girls and women from long ago weren't physically active with sports and competition. Yep, there were plenty of barriers. However, opportunities existed.

​More to come!

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