ESPN is celebrating Women’s History Month in March by sharing empowering and inspirational stories of young female athletes.

The cross-platform, month-long initiative focuses on female athletes between the ages of 13 and 24, and will culminate with a one-hour special, “Her Story”, at 8 p.m. (Eastern time) March 27. The program, hosted by “SportsCenter’s”Hannah Storm, will highlight up-and-coming athletes, as well as the issues they face:

•         Teenage surfing phenom Bethany Hamilton, who returned to her sport with a vengeance after a shark attack in 2003. Despite losing her left arm, Hamilton has continued to rise in the rankings and become one of the world’s top surfers.

•         Twenty years ago, the Women's Sports Foundation released a study that determined Hispanic girls had far lower participation in sports than other ethnicities. Few studies have updated that premise. Shelley Smith looks at some of the barriers to participation as well as success stories, proving that with the right amount of family and school support, Hispanic girls may just prove to be sport's fastest growing demographic.

•         Interviews with Courtney and Ashley Paris, daughters of former San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Bubba Paris, who give Oklahoma its best shot of winning an NCAA women’s basketball title.

•         The rebirth of roller derby, which made a comeback due to a grassroots revival in Austin, Texas.  This resurgence has led to more than 200 amateur, all-female roller derby leagues across the country.

•         A feature on Shoni Schimmel, a Native American teenager in Oregon who is among the top high school basketball players in the country but must deal with cultural bias and personal challenges as she heads towards her senior year.

•         In addition, fans will be encouraged to post inspirational clips about themselves, a teammate, a coach or a team on ESPN.com’s dedicated “Her Story” page. The winning clip will be included in the special.

Other ESPN platforms will also offer extensive programming related to women athletes. A series of vignettes will air multiple times across ESPN’s networks featuring inspirational young women athletes, male athletes sharing how they are inspired by female athletes in their lives, and “then and now” historical moments in women’s sports. Vignettes will feature well-known sports figures such as Jessica Long, a double-amputee who won multiple gold medals at the 2008 Paralympic Games; Pittsburgh head men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon discussing his late sister Maggie Dixon, the former head women’s basketball at Army; and tennis stars Althea Gibson and the Williams sisters.

ESPN.com will host a dedicated page during the month with original content and serve as the home to the “My Story” link.

ESPN Classic will host an 11-hour marathon of documentaries on female athletes who have left their mark on the sports world. Coverage will begin with a documentary on Title IX and end with a replay of classic tennis battles between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, and Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

Meanwhile, the March edition of ESPN The Magazine will feature former Tennessee women’s basketball standout and current WNBA star Candace Parker, and ESPN360.com will offer more than 180 hours of women’s sports programming during the month.