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Did you know that there are still no professionally paid women in British team sports at the moment? And the average wage of a Premiership footballer? £676,000.
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e-newsletter :: issue 2
Welcome
A warm welcome to the second edition of our monthly e-zine. At the beginning of March we launched the 'Energy Project', an important new project from the Women's Sport & Fitness Foundation aimed at tackling the increasing levels of physical inactivity amongst young girls. We also have an article from the front line of English of English Rugby, and contributions from Triathlon England, from our Equality Manager in the East Region, and from me - the second in a series of who's who at WSFF.
Sue Tibballs
Chief Executive
A day in the life of an England Women's Rugby Player by Katie Storie
Any sports fan will know that over the last month the drama of the RBS six nations has been unfolding, but did you know that while the men have been battling on the field so have the ladies in the equivalent competition for women? Last week we asked Katy Storie from WSFF to share a day in her life as an England player going for the 'Grand Slam'!
We are heading out on Thursday even though we don't play till Saturday which is pretty unusual but shows how crucial getting our preparation right for this game is. We all have full time jobs if we're not students and it is really difficult getting as much time off for major tournaments.
As we check in on for our flight we're all really excited as we have our own check-in desk with the team's name on the screen. Little things like that very rarely happen to us. The profile of the team in England is on the up but we are still pretty unknown even though we have been in the last two World Cup Finals.
Often the rugby specific websites cover our results and match reports but mainstream media more often than not opts for covering the men's game. We understand that the men's game is much more established than ours and is a professional game but we get very frustrated when the media continue to concentrate so much editorial regardless of the England men's team performance. The last match against Italy had a small write up in the Sunday Times sports section which is a major step for us.
Two hours into the coach journey from the airport even though it feels like were heading into the middle of nowhere, you can nearly always guarantee that the further south you go in France, the bigger the crowd. For those of us who have played in France before, we know what to expect and we are fully prepared to face a pretty hostile and vocal partisan crowd. If you know how to turn it to your advantage it makes such a difference but for those newer players to the squad there is a fear that such atmosphere could be intimidating. The biggest crowd I've played in front of was at Twickenham last year when we played Italy directly after the men's fixture. The crowd was estimated at over 9000 and the noise when we scored a try was deafening.
We're staying in a small hotel just outside the centre of Bergerac and there are banners and posters everywhere advertising the game. When we get to the ground on match day we feel very prepared as we had a whole day yesterday to train. As usual though, I am really feeling the nerves now. I like to listen to my ipod and sit quietly for a while before pre match weigh in and going out to warm up. The stands are full and the crowd must be nearly 6000 and are making themselves heard.
Singing the national anthem, for me, is one of the most significant parts of playing for my country. By the end of the anthems we are raring to go. The match was very physically challenging and even though we scored a record number of points away in France, it was not an easy game. We are on a real high after the match, signing autographs for the local children and doing TV interviews. We have a camera crew that attend all our games and stream the match live on the internet as we have no television coverage of matches. They also film interviews with key players from the across the country that are sent to regional news teams to be used for local media. There has been a significant increase in local media coverage of our 6 Nations campaign and this is mainly due to an interest in players who are regionally based. This has led to a lot more of us being recognised for our achievements within the local community and that is such a buzz as even though we don't play rugby to be famous, it's amazing when someone knows about our successes.
We watch the men's match on a big screen at the post match dinner and are really chuffed that the men had a good result as well. We have a glass of wine to celebrate such a big win for us but are saving ourselves for the last 6 Nations match against Ireland as we're hoping that we can take the Grand Slam again. Then if we win we will certainly be celebrating in style!
Triathlon England and British Triathlon - Building a more inclusive sport
Over the last year, Triathlon England has been making huge progress towards addressing the issue of under-representation of female participants, coaches, volunteers and officials in their sport.
Triathlon England has produced a two year National Equity Strategy 'Building a more inclusive sport', which provides a blueprint on how they are going to remove the barriers to participation which are currently experienced by a range of groups which include women and girls.
The organisation sees a future in this sport where female participants, coaches and volunteers reflect the population of the nation. This will be achieved through various initiatives including women and girl only introductory days and events, with exit routes into clubs. Projects targeting female coach education programmes have been already been established, to ensure positive role models are common place throughout the sports club structure. And if actually doing the sport is not quite your thing, women and girl referee and volunteer recruitment programmes are also being developed so you can still be involved!
As a starting point, this summer sees the launch of many women only events from pool based triathlons to open water river and lake races. These include:
| Rugby Spring Chick Triathlon (pool swim) | 4th May |
| Rother Valley Festival, Rotherham (open water) | 31st May |
| Cotswold Women Only Triathlon (open water) | 8th June |
| Timex Women Only Triathlon, Dorney (open water) | 12th July |
| Royal Deva Divas Triathlon, Chester (open water) | 20th July |
For more information about any of the female development initiatives or female only events, please contact Julian Wills, National Equity Manager, on julianwills@britishtriathlon.org or 01822 850454.
What's new?
The Energy Project
The Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) has an education initiative for schools across the country, in a bid to tackle the increasing levels of physical inactivity amongst young girls. The 'Energy Project', a collaboration with the Helen Storey Foundation and Creative Partnerships London East and South, has been designed to increase energy levels, by experimenting with ways to build physical activity into the whole school day looking at breakfast clubs and break time as well as during lessons.
Launched off the back of a successful pilot scheme involving several schools, the 'Energy Project' investigates the positive relationship between energy, education and physical well being. Where traditional sports-led approaches have struggled, the project adopted a fresh approach, looking at ways to help staff improve students' energy levels as well as recommending some key tips to help girls themselves get active.
The initiative was launched during Obesity Awareness Week and follows Health Secretary Alan Johnson's anti-obesity investment announcement of £372m, to tackle childhood obesity. Throughout the programme, WSFF promotes small changes that can be made outside of PE lessons to increase energy levels and deliver health benefits for girls.
"Childhood obesity is such a hot topic and PE alone is not going to solve the inactivity crisis," said Sue Tibballs, Chief Executive of the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation, "16 year old girls are half as active as boys of the same age, so it is vital that we work with girls at an early age to prevent this drop out, Our energy initiative demonstrates how small changes within the classroom can sow the seeds for an active lifestyle, to stand girls in good stead for the rest of their lives."
The key findings from the pilot study include:
- PE alone will not solve the inactivity crisis
- There are great opportunities to build energy into other times of the school day
- Girls enjoy wider benefits from increased energy levels throughout the day, including improved health, and a positive impact on learning and behaviour
- Successful energy boosting activities include cheerleading, breakfast clubs, yoga, power walking and gospel singing
The scheme is being driven by the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation, a campaigning charity that aims to make physical activity an integral part of every woman's life, and The Helen Storey Foundation, a not-for-profit arts organisation that promotes creativity and innovation. Funding and support was provided by Creative Partnerships London East and South, the Government's flagship creativity programme for schools and young people, and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Professor Helen Storey, The Helen Storey Foundation:
"The exploration we wanted to embark on was to look at the timetable and human energy side by side, and see if there were better ways of being able to teach and learn. Just as we no longer think that creativity lives only in the art room, we must not think that healthy living exists only in the PE lesson."
Jayne Wilson, Principal Consultant in Physical Activity and Wellbeing Faculty of Health & Wellbeing Sheffield Hallam University who created the research methodology behind the project:
"It was fantastic to be a partner on this project because it challenged us to think creatively about our approach to researching physical activity and the concept of "energy." The findings of the project reinforce the point that girls enjoy being active and the benefits of an active lifestyle. We need to help build activity into their everyday lives in the way we structure the school day and by ensuring we support a diverse range of opportunities to be active, especially the informal activities such as dance and cheerleading."
To learn more about the project and download resources, click here.
Who's who at WSFF
We continue getting to know the team at WSFF with a focus this month on Sue Tibballs, the CEO.
Out and about
Active 209: Cambridgeshire Radio Show
Aruna: It is quite well known that there not many women in sports media, and an opportunity arose during the first few weeks in my post, when a local community radio station 209radio approached me to take an interview on sports and diversity. 209radio has been internet based only until October2007 when it came live on 105FM. It is now heard throughout Cambridgeshire by all communities.
After the interview, I noticed there were no sports shows on the station's schedule. I spoke to the station manager and it was agreed to have a half hour a magazine show talking to women from Cambridgeshire about their sports and physical activities.
The show has been a great success with increasing numbers of listeners. The aim of the show has been to give local women and girls a monthly update of sports and physical activities in the areas linking with local sports development and Living Sport. The show continues with two guests, which have included Kim Lumley, England's Water Skiing Athlete, Ali Gordon, Football Player for Cambridge City, Liesbeth Ten Ham from Menter who has come through cancer and continues to do a variety of physical activities as well as Suchitra Ramphal who has done Karate.
All these women are local to the area and are great role models to women and girls. The show also gives monthly challenges to listeners to take part in more physical activity.
To listen to the monthly shows, you can go online to www.209radio.co.uk and scroll down to Active 209.
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