Women are making their mark in the world of professional sports like never before. Here are five women who are leading the charge and setting the path for a generation of girls behind them. We have always said at We are Girls in Sport, “if you cannot see them, you cannot be them” and it has been so inspiring to see female athletes making history in their sport. In this blog, we celebrate the progress which has been made for women in sport and although there is still so much more work to be done, we recognise these trailblazing women and girls who are breaking barriers in their sport including Sarah Thomas, Mayar Sherif, Pip Hare, Joy Neville and Sky Brown.
I’m Sarah Jackson and I got into sport for the same reason as almost everyone – for the love of it! I tried pretty much every sport under the sun growing up, and I’m still finding new sports to try, but windsurfing was my one true love and the harder I trained, the better I got. However, I didn’t start out trying to be the best in the world, or even wanting to be a professional windsurfer, I just wanted to be on the water as much as possible doing what I love!
We are Girls in Sport is proud to be supporting Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week and to round up the week, we are delighted to share our exclusive interview World Thai-Boxing champion, Rachael Mackenzie. Over her life, Rachael has built her own resilience and used boxing as a way to improve her life and her mental health after suffering from an eating disorder in her youth. Rachael spoke to us about how the power of movement is so vital for a child’s mental health.
This week we have a guest blog , perfect for girls ,on body image from Anupa Roper also known as ‘Miss Sparrowlegs’. Anupa lives in Leicestershire, UK with her husband and two children (Maya 11 and Ayden 10). She allowed the label of ‘skinny’ to affect her feelings, self esteem and worth for a long time. Now she wants to empower the young by helping them to feel happy in their own skin. She would love for the generations that follow to know that their bodies are amazing and they are beautiful just the way they are.
Given everything that’s going on in the world, it’s no wonder there has been a reported increase in teens experiencing depression and anxiety. But it doesn’t have to take a pandemic to cause high stress levels in our brain: school, exams, family, and even friendship drama, can cause the brain to respond with anxiety that prohibits us from feeling and doing our best.
Polly and Jo from The How People joined us at the beginning of January to discuss confidence in girls and how we can build it. Check out the video here. They are passionate about helping girls fulfil their potential and want to open up conversations around a number of subjects. They created a week long event which focussed on periods with some great speakers which they have kindly shared with us. If you missed our webinar on periods and sport with Dr Emma Ross, then you can view it here.
Donna Fraser is one of the UK’s most successful 400m runners who competed at four consecutive Olympic Games. An amazing achievement in itself and a testament to her incredible fitness levels. Fraser herself was a youthful prodigy. Despite being shy, she was a super-fast runner. She won a record six English Schools titles plus the European junior 400m crown in 1991 before making the British team for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and reaching the quarter-finals of the 400m
Do you ever feel as though you’re not sure what’s going on with your tween or teen girl? Has your daughter suddenly lost interest in exercise and you’re not sure why? Maybe she wants to participate more which is unusual.
Are you a teenager who wants to understand more about what’s going on with your body and mind?
Katie Malkinson, founder of Little Big Sports, is passionate about sport and cricket in particular. She is heavily involved in her local cricket club where her son plays and she’s keen for more girls to play the game too, so much so that she is setting up junior girls’ training at the same club.
We first came across Jo when she tagged us in her Instagram stories. She was about to do her first night open water swim and her story was funny and authentic. We contacted Jo and heard tales of her sporting pursuits :we loved how she had found exercise and how it was and is such a big part of her life. We wanted to share her story to inspire others and to demonstrate how sport can help us all. Thanks Jo for sharing your story.
At We are Girls in Sport, we are all about partnerships and looking at creative ways we can collaborate with others to share one united goal; to help girls and women to feel good and to build confidence from the inside out through the power of sport. We are delighted to have the support of Pretty Athletic, a business born out of seeing a gap in the marketplace for skincare specifically designed for women and teen girls who enjoy exercise.
In this week’s blog, we have the pleasure of interviewing Alex Wallace. Alex is the founder of The Mintridge Foundation, a registered charity dedicated to enhancing life skills in young people through sport. They provide a support network for young people by harnessing the power of positive sporting role models. Our team of Ambassadors – Olympians, Paralympians and other professional sports stars from over twenty sports, both team and individual ; work with young people in schools, clubs and academies across the UK.
Here at We are Girls in Sport we know that there are lots of girls and young women out there who want to play sport but who are coming up against barriers. We think it’s great that we’ve discovered one company that has decided to help with that last barrier, providing teenage girls with some sports kit of their very own and the support they need to persevere.
I’m a really enthusiastic person, and so everything I do, I give it all or nothing. I had been training twice a week when my coach said, “Do you want to take this seriously, and shoot for your county?” I wanted to be the next Olympic Gold Medallist and the best shooter the world has seen, so I said yes! I went to shoot for the county and then before I knew, I’d qualified second in juniors, first in ladies and third in seniors; cementing the fact that this was my sport!
Rugby union used to be perceived as traditional, elitist, and dominated by men, but that impression is slowly shifting thanks to the rise of women’s rugby and the amazing women featured in this blog.
The first virtual London Marathon took place on 4 October 2020 and, I don’t know about you, but I found it really inspiring! No crowds lining the streets, no other runners to jostle with or buddy up with but runners all over the world showed grit and determination and finished the 26.2 miles.
In this week’s blog, we caught up with an advocate for women in sport , Dani Mugridge, Director of Sport at Lady Eleanor Holles school and assistant coach for the English netball team, Surrey Storm. Dani contacted We are Girls in Sport as she supports and believes in our campaign to introduce more girls to the wide variety of sports out there.
Here at We are Girls in Sport, we love to meet and chat to inspiring women and girls from around the globe. In this week’s blog, we spoke to Michelle Robinson (nee Griffith). Born in Wembley, London. Michelle is a former athlete, who represented GB for over 2 decades in the triple jump and a proud Olympian.
Even before the pandemic, Brits weren’t getting enough exercise. Many global health organisations and government agencies are working hard to encourage us to move us off the sofa and get moving.
We know that football clubs around the world are working hard to support more girls and young women to give football a try. We are Girls in Sport spoke to Kim Coster, Head of Ladies’ & Girls’ Football at Billericay Town FC, a team from England, about her role at the football club and her views on how we can introduce more girls to the game.
