This Girl Can Week 2021
Each year Belgravia Foundation celebrates This Girl Can Week and recognises the incredible efforts of Belgravia Leisure sites across Victoria in supporting women’s participation in leisure, recreation and community sport.
The aim over the week is to engage women is physical activity; those who are disengaged and those who currently participate. The goal is to empower women to have the confidence to sustain their physical activity participation in a safe and welcoming environment. By creating a positive experience for those new to exercise and by creating a positive culture for current participants it can increases the likelihood of consistent and ongoing participation in the future. Removing barriers such as cost and encouraging women to bring a friend were some tools adopted to promote participation over the week. Social interactions and opportunities to mingle were facilitated by Belgravia Leisure venues and staff to help create a friendly atmosphere, which is proven to be a key factor in improving women’s participation.
Some wonderful examples of events hosted by Belgravia Leisure include:
Knox Leisureworks – offered an array of group fitness sessions (RPM, Body Attack, Body Step and Body Balance) to encourage everyone to give it a go! One participant, Natalia reported the exercise made her feel “fit and strong, it’s empowering,” she said.
Sommerville Recreation Centre – encouraged their Pickle Ball players to bring along their wives to the weekly games. It was a big hit! With lots of laughs, new skills were learnt and a friendly cup of tea rounded out the event. The women may just come along to Pickle Ball with their husbands every week!
Yarrambat Park Golf Course – facilitated “come and try” golf sessions for women new to the sport across multiple locations in the Nillumbik region. Golf traditionally is a male dominated sport so it was great to break down stereotypes and get women involved too.
Overall, This Girl Can Week 2021 was a great success encouraging all to be physically active in a way which is fun, safe and allows people to connect socially. Bringing everyone together helped evoke a great sense of community, hopefully increasing ongoing participation.
