Did you know that 42% of women and almost 50% of men believe that girls are not given as much encouragement as boys to do sport.

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About us

Meet...Zoe Calder

Q: Tell us about your role at WSFF...

A: I am project manager for the European Social Funded Women into Coaching 2 -- London programme. I work with the project team (Brittany and Pey) and the project Partners to recruit women and girls from across London onto this funded coaching project. My main responsibilities are to make sure that we stay on track with spending the c. half a million pounds worth of funding. Ensuring that coaches are supported to successfully complete their qualification(s) is key to the success of this programme and it has been very rewarding for me to get to know as many of the 200+ coaches we will recruit to this project by the end of July 2008.

Q: What has your career involved so far?

A: I graduated in 1997 with a German Language honours degree and continued to use my language skills within the IT / Telecomms industry where I was a business / systems analyst. My main responsibility was to complete IT projects on time and within budget. During this time there were plenty of opportunities for me to develop / learn new skills and to travel to Germany to deliver systems training to staff. Always looking for a new challenge (I have been keen for some time to complete a psychology degree) I made a start with this in 2003. The plan now is to complete a further qualification in sport and exercise psychology having completed my psychology degree at the end of 2005.

Q: If you could change only one thing to have a positive impact on women and girls' activity levels, what would it be?

A: I would like to see more quality, competent female coaches at every level of sports coaching. As we know (plus research shows that) female coaches can have a massive impact on the numbers of women and girls who want to participate in sport. I have definitely met some excellent role models during my time here at WSFF. I would like to see 20% of coaches at the forthcoming London Olympics being female. With positive action programmes such as Women into Coaching 2 -- London happening nationally, why won't we achieve this?

Q: What's your favourite sport?

A: Tennis. I have played since I was about 7 years old after my Dad had bought my sister and I 'Swingball'. I should be a better player considering the amount of time I have enjoyed playing the sport. Something to change in 2008 ...!

Q: Most memorable sporting event?

A: Did I mention the fact that I love playing / watching tennis ...!!! Pete Sampras winning his 7th Wimbledon title in 2000. I cried!

Q: Give us a fascinating fact about yourself:

A: I can run faster than Carol Vorderman, who I beat in a run in Newcastle this year!!!

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