Support women to Get Out Get Active this International Women's Day
This year, International Women’s Day (8 March) focuses on building a gender-balanced world. To celebrate this day, we are looking at various activities in Get Out Get Active locations having an impact on people’s lives, especially women. This may be as driving forces in active communities, volunteers for sessions or as peer mentors.
Although International Women’s Day (IWD) focus is for one day, campaigners drive for change all year long. Balance drives a better working world and Get Out Get Active (GOGA) partners believe in #BalanceforBetter.
Working together with programme funders Spirit of 2012 and partners, we aim to reach people who are least active, whilst promoting wellbeing through GOGA. We support disabled and non-disabled people to move more, volunteer and lead active and healthy lifestyles together. Many areas GOGA have a focus on engaging women and girls.
Richard Brickley in Fife, Scotland
“In Fife we are extremely proud of the gender balance within our weekly GOGA programme. We are confident that the young women and older adults, who are part of GOGA, contribute enormously to the overall success of the programme.
“Being active together is a strength and the photograph below shows all the women involved in the programme. This includes the coaching team, professional support staff, participants and our growing number of female peer mentors. We currently have more female than male! ‘Balance for better’ is a super slogan and one that we shall continue to promote long after IWD and GOGA.”
Kate in Manchester
Kate is 73 and a retired nurse taking part in Manchester. She was active in her career, but this stopped once retired. When she started the sessions, Kate struggled with back, knee and joint issues, which were giving her pain, as well as breathing, and circulation issues. With Clive’s support (GOGA instructor), she greatly improved the movement in her back and joints as well as her core strength. The sessions have also helped to improve her breathing and circulation.
As a result of the sessions, her pain has eased a lot. She said:
“GOGA sessions have really helped me improve how I feel – I’m less achy, I can breathe better and my pain is less. I have also made new friends and feel happier in myself.”
Vickie in Wrexham, Wales
Vickie Furlong-Hart is level 2 PGA qualified coach based at Wrexham Golf Club in North Wales. She has been coaching for the GOGA programme since January 2018 and has been one of the driving forces behind the programme’s success.
In six months, Vickie has managed to get over 30 women in total playing golf in the three separate sessions a week. It led to over 12 memberships and a huge change in perception of women’s golf within the Wrexham area.
Women in Sport identified the value in the initiative led by Vickie for the sector and developed a collaborative insight study. This helped to ensure that the scheme’s values and ethos can be shared for broader learning and to engage inactive disabled and non-disabled women. Everyone who meets Vickie feels her love for the game, so much so that she is planning to use the same formula at various golf clubs across Wrexham.
Join the conversation with your GOGA stories using #BalanceforBetter.
If you are interested in getting out and becoming active, find out how to get involved here www.getoutgetactive.co.uk. Women in Sport has a support and advice service which can help you access, understand and apply their research. Visit www.womeninsport.org/research-advice-service or contact info@womeninsport.org for more information.