New Campaign - Play On!
Today is the International Day of the Girl and We are Girls in Sport wanted to support one of its main objectives this year:
‘Increasing resources for and investments in adolescent girls, including for the networks and organisations that support quality and inclusive education and prioritise their well-being.’
We want to increase resources for sporty girls and with this in mind, we’re super excited at We are Girls in Sport HQ as we launch PLAY ON, the campaign to make sure that sports clubs & venues provide free period wear. Yes! Free period wear! Wouldn’t that be great?!
But first, let’s go back to the beginning.
We are Girls in Sport wants to help you to be active.
We also know that periods can be a pain when it comes to sport. They can make you feel uncomfortable and tired, you might be worried about leaking and you might feel like skipping training or practice. We get it; sometimes you forget to take some pads or tampons with you to training and so you worry that you’ll be caught short, left with nothing to use - what will you do then?
Thanks to Play On, that’s when your club can step in to help you. If they provided free tampons and pads, you wouldn’t need to worry if you forgot to take some of your own and your period started. If you felt like you might be leaking, you’d be able to run in and use something provided.
At We are Girls in Sport, we want to help you continue to be active, to play on, whatever the time of the month and free period products is a way to do that.
How you can help
There are some ways that you can help us.
You can be the activist,. With our help & support, become the driver of change. Speak to your clubs, speak to your coaches and trainers, speak to your team mates and your friends and speak to your parents about Play On. Explain why it’s important that clubs provide free period wear.
Describing how it feels when you’ve got your period, how you worry about starting your period or leaking might seem like TMI - they could be difficult things for you to discuss. But we need to be honest. We need to explain how common these concerns are and the impact they have on us turning up to practice. Some people won’t realise that this is even a problem but by talking to them, you can help them to see your POV.
But if it is difficult to talk about, fear not - we’ve put together some tools to help you.
Head to this link on our website and you’ll find a template that you can send by email, text, Whatsapp, whatever works for you. Copy and paste it, edit it as much as you like to fit your particular club and you could always sign it from a group of you, like your team, or you and your care giver.
We are Girls in Sport can send some emails to try to make the change happen if you don’t want to and we can support your emails too, if you like. All we need is the name of the person you’ve emailed and their contact details. You can provide those to us in the Period Questionnaire which you can find here - share your period experiences with us, anonymously if you like to help us see what you girls are going through at your sports clubs.
And yes, do let us know about positive experiences too!
We’re here to help you so if you need support email wearegirlsinsport@gmail.com.
Period wear starter packs
We have teamed up with sustainable period wear brand Freda and the brilliant FabLittleBag who have given us a rather excellent discount code! Use WAGIS for 20% off.
Use WAGIS with FabLittleBags to receive 20% off their starter packs and they will post worldwide. The USA site is here and the rest of the world is here. .
For clubs, the Freda and FabLittleBag starter boxes contain:
A dispenser
200 Fab Little Bags
40 organic tampons
40 organic pads
2 Large tote bags to store them in
This pack will last a long time and with the discount code, clubs, really have no excuse!
Actual products may vary
At the moment, this discount for the starter boxes is just for the UK but we are having conversations with brands all over the world. We can still start the conversation with your club about providing free period wear.
Celebrating barrier breaking
When your club has helped to break down a barrier to girls coming to play sport by providing free period wear, you have a super cool poster to put up in your club to show that it is period friendly and therefore girl friendly. You can access it here. You could put it on the back of cubicle doors too so that visiting teams can change their clubs with our help, to provide free period wear.
We’ll also send a congratulatory email and give a shout out to you and your club on our socials …. which you never know, might mean that more girls turn up to try out a new activity.
Please share this blog, share our socials, get talking about periods and sport wherever you are in the world. Let’s make a difference and drive change that will help girls and women be more active.