Saints Aspire Multisports Day
With the expanding gender equality work at Saints Foundation, last month fans funded Saints Aspire group hosted a multisport event for young girls aged 11-16.
Saints Aspire was developed, in partnership with the Southampton FC Fans Advisory Board, to support girls aged 11-16 who have experienced disadvantage to develop their leadership skills and boost their future aspirations, whilst helping to build a more gender-balanced fan base for Southampton FC.
As part of the sessions, the groups must come up with social action plans around a topic they are passionate about driving change for young women and girls.
One group identified how the sport offering for young girls at school isn’t diverse and many young girls are left without easy options to try a variety of sports.
14-year-old Freya, one of the participants who planned the day, said: “We chose to run this social event in order to bring more opportunities in sports to girls.
“I was shocked when Skye [Gender Equality Coordinator] told us we were actually running the event, and I was a little scared. I thought nobody would turn up.”
From just an idea for social action, event day rolled around at the end of July with almost 50 young girls ready to take on three stations of sports guided by nine positive role models from Saints Foundation staff.
The stations were boxing, rugby, and football; All sports chosen by the Saints Aspire group who designed the day, and attendees were from our Community Champions and Changemakers projects across Southampton.
Freya continued: “The day turned out really well, it was good weather and everyone was happy, and I hope that all the girls that showed up had fun.
“Aspire has been really good for me, it's given me an experience that I've never had, and an opportunity to make friends. I feel like I've become more confident in myself and I've come out of my shell a bit.”
One of the youngest participants to attend, Anya, was particular nervous about taking part. It took some with staff and starting one to one with the mentor leading our boxing station to slowly guide her into the day.
By the end of the event, she said: “I really enjoyed the whole experience since I got to try and get involved in sports I had never tried before. I learnt that trying new sports can actually be really fun even if you don't like the sound of it.”
