THIS Girl Can is Sport England’s social media campaign with a simple national message that has gone global. Women worldwide are hashtagging their active pursuits – no matter how well they do it, how they look or how red their face gets. United States has #LikeAGirl and the Australian government launched ‘Girls Make Your Move’ in February.
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The City of Ballarat has started making its move, releasing a draft report for an active women and girls strategy that stems from a brainstorming workshop with sporting groups, sport governing bodies and the region’s leading health organisations. It is a starting point. The City has a keen focus on gender equity and, importantly, female engagement in sport and active recreation.
Teenage girls, aged 15-17, are only half as physically active as their male peers, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ national health survey. Forty-four per cent of girls in this age group are undertaking moderate or high levels of physical activity compared to 62 per cent of boys.
AFL Goldfields commissioner Sue Brown, a Federation University sports management lecturer, said the key to change is shifting a cultural mindset.
“Girls, like women, tend to be really hard on themselves, not aware of their ability,” Ms Brown said. “You ask girls what they’re good at and they’re usually not sure, but they know the areas they don’t feel good enough at. Girls are usually too scared to take a risk, of making a mistake and getting yelled at by the coach, and play very conservative. Boys are encouraged to take risks and are not as frightened of making mistakes. Boys tend to think they can do anything, conquer anything and that’s not just in sport but in life.”
Ms Brown raised the topic in her weekly ABC Ballarat radio sports segment on Friday morning and highlighted Ballarat Eureka Strikers, a representative women and girls soccer program, for getting the model right. She said this comes back to a more encouraging coaching style – empowering players to try new tactics, trusting players to take ownership of their game without fear of getting it wrong. Game-sense to build confidence and self-esteem.
And it should start from a young age.
Ballarat Football League is set to branch into an under-12s girls football competition, and more girls-only Auskick sessions, to build on the league’s booming youth girls ranks. In a traditionally male-focused sport, the BFL is preparing to enter its sixth youth girls season of Australian Rules. Competition started with four teams and will now boast 12, including new outfits from Creswick, Melton Centrals and North Ballarat.
BFL operations manager Scott Carey said that, while junior girls can still play in boys’ football competition, this was about offering an opportunity for girls to taste the game and have fun in the game, without pressure.
Mr Carey said most girls take up football for the first time in youth girls. Most already play other sports. But the skill level and rapid improvement was impressive. Younger girls, looking up to teenagers in the game, want to join in and so, the BFL is expanding.
“It’s about greater opportunity with development pathways,” Mr Carey said. “Girls football is a big push we’ve made but there are so many more pathways for the girls now. AFL Women’s football has assisted promoting the game but there is a lot of excitement in rep footy, like the Rebels’ youth girls academy and interleague.”
Mr Carey said Ballarat council grounds were bursting at the seams with women and girls in football and netball, but the strategy workshop was important for identifying more ways clubs could be inclusive, like improved female change facilities.
Ballarat deputy mayor Belinda Coates, a long-time champion for gender equality and women’s sport, said the strategy workshop was an important first step in building community partnerships to collective encourage females of all ages to lead more active lifestyles. Infrastructure was important, and not just for competitive sports.
Girls, like women, tend to be really hard on themselves, not aware of their ability...Girls are usually too scared to take a risk and play very conservative. Boys are encouraged to take risks and are not as frightened of making mistakes
- AFL Goldfields commissioner Sue Brown
Cr Coates the community had to think broadly on active recreation, encouraging and supporting women and girls to be confident across a whole range of active pursuits like yoga, dance, rollerskating.
“There has been a (gender) gap for a long time,” Cr Coates said. “Culturally, we’re so focused in values of men’s sport when women in sport is just as important.”
Encouraging young girls and women to get more active was one thing.
Retention was another.
Ballarat Body and Soul gym owner Mel Tempest said it was about understanding women. Ms Tempest said there was a strong trend towards functional training over traditional group classes. Why? Functional training does not require much coordination and everyone works out at their own pace.
Body and Soul’s target demographic is 21 to 36-year-olds and about 73 per cent of the gym’s membership is female. Most attend group fitness or functional classes. Body and Soul adopts the latest trends from the United States, to keep classes fresh and edgy, and will soon offer virtual well-being classes, so members can meditate or do yoga to fit in busy lifestyles.
“The message all gyms should be sending is that it’s as long as you keep moving,” Ms Tempest said. “When you’re old, you want to be the first person off the bus, not the old lady stuck up the back.”
