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What a week! The 52 hours of traveling up from South Africa to get to Colombia were well worth the wonderful feedback Girls & Football SA received after presenting to the delegates at the 2nd World Summit for Youth Volunteering, hosted by Partners of the Americas, IAVE, and UN Volunteers. The Girls & Football SA presentation focused on Sport for Development and Youth Volunteering. Particularly, challenges faced in working in a non-volunteering culture, in addition to tricks and tips to ensure volunteers feel rewarded were highlighted. Great questions were raised, surrounding topics such as how an organization can handle challenges faced in an environment where perceptions surrounding girls and sport are not necessarily positive. Another interesting discussion centered on the best ways to monitor the physical changes a girl’s body goes through when she participates in sport. As we continue our programming, our focus will remain on health education through sport and questions such as these are particularly inspiring. Thanks to all the great delegates during the break out panel and your insightful questions and comments!
Girls & Football SA is very grateful for the opportunity to have worked with such inspiring youth from all over the world. We
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Inspiration can be found in the amazing relationships we’ve built through our girls’ football workshops, but it’s also found in connections with other organizations working hard to make a sustainable difference. This week, Sonia Bianchi, Co-Founder and Project Manager at Girls & Football SA, experienced lending a hand at Free the Children’s annual Me To We Day in Vancouver, Canada, and left feeling hugely inspired.
Free the Children was founded in 1995 by 12 year old Craig Kielburger and 11 friends his age, and the We Day served as a reminder that no matter how humble the beginnings of an initiative, passion can compel anyone committed enough to make a huge difference in the world. Fast forward 16 years, and Free the Children is making a difference in youths’ lives, not only abroad, but also in Canada, showing everyone that nothing is impossible when you put your heart into it. Surrounded by amazing presenters such as Shaquille O’Neal, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mia Farrow and 18,000 engaged youth, it was impossible to leave the Rogers Arena in BC anything but inspired.
Students attending the event have been engaged in charity events all year, from fundraising, to building schools in rural communities, to organizing the largest food drive in Canadian history. Free the Children’s founders, Craig and Mark Kielburger, showed how the activities in one school built upon what others had achieved and ultimately how each of the different schools had created much needed infrastructure that allowed children in remote communities to not only get an education but also have access to clean water, health care and economic opportunities.
Girls & Football SA would like to congratulate Free the Children on another successful We Day! You remain an inspiration to organizations determined to make a difference.
As always, Girls & Football SA is on the road, building networks, encouraging supporters and raising awareness on the importance of sport for girls and young women. Next month, be sure to catch the update on Director Jos Dirkx’s presentation on the importance of sport for girls’ development at The World Summit of Youth Volunteering in Columbia!
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It’s that strange, giddy-with-anticipation, Christmas-come-early sensation. Here at G&FSA we love tournaments, and there is no bigger party in female football than the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The kick-off was this Sunday – a thrilling showdown between reigning champions Germany and dynamic up-and-comers Canada, in front of no less than 73,680 spectators at the beautiful Olympiastadium Berlin. If you want to check out the team listings, background information, match schedules and results, head over to the FIFA site. If you want to find out why you should care about women’s football, keep reading. Take our word for it, even if your team isn’t playing, the sixth ever FIFA Women’s World Cup is a cause for celebration, and if your team is – well, go get your kit and face paint out.
Large, international tournaments for women’s football are a fairly recent development. FIFA (the International Federation of Association Football) and UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) only started supporting the sport in the late 1980s, and even now, the dominant attitude with the top brass seems to be that female footballers should continue to play second fiddle to the men. So let’s clear up a few misconceptions. Yes, women’s football can at times maybe be a bit “slower” than the men’s game. The goalies are not as tall. It doesn’t generate a fraction of the same amount of money as the men’s tournaments do. Yet in Western Europe, as in certain Latin American and African countries, it is the fastest growing organised women’s sport. The German Football Association has over a million registered female players of all ages, and women’s football is actively supported and encouraged by the German government, both at federal and state level. No wonder they are one of the most-winning teams within the sport.
The players and supporters of women’s football have been fighting for a long time for recognition, which we believe that they so rightfully deserve. To this day there are obvious challenges, and having been present at the carnival that was the 2010 World Cup, the differences in media attention and public support between the two events is staggering. The perception of women footballers and the resources allocated to promoting this branch of the beautiful game is well worthy of thorough analysis. The ramifications of the 2011 World Cup for women’s football, particularly as seen from the angle of a grassroots initiative such as G&FSA, is interesting both on a theoretical level and in a more hands-on, practical way. Will it provide the break-through that girl centred grass roots initiatives so sorely need…? These questions and others will be addressed in the coming weeks, but for now, the focus is on the amazing athletes that have fought their way to Germany, with the sole purpose of representing their countries doing what they love, and what they do best. Here at G&FSA we are so stoked, so excited, so over-the-moon happy now the months of waiting finally is over, and high-end women’s football will be shown on national TV. You can even watch it at your local pub.
Although we’re not supposed to be partisan here, it’s probably no secret that a number of different nationalities are represented in the G&FSA team – several of these staffers have their teams competing in Germany. Especially for those in our support base who weren’t represented by their national squad at the 2010 Men’s World Cup – Canadians, Norwegians and Swedes, we’re talking about you! – it must feel so good to be able to follow a World Cup with a sense of national pride.
Having followed the qualifying rounds for this women’s world cup quite closely, particularly the 2010 African Women’s Championship which were hosted by South Africa, we also feel a strong connection to the African contenders. That qualifying tournament was characterised by sweat, tears and tonnes of effort and talent. In the end the two teams who shone brighter than the rest where the Nigerian Super Falcons and Word Cup débutantes Equatorial Guinea. The South African squad – the Banyana Banyana – secured a very close third, and even though it would have been beyond amazing to see them rock the pitch during the weeks to come, we hope that all of our African football fans will put their support behind the Nigerian and Equatoguinean ladies. The World Cup is about rooting for your team, but it’s also about celebrating the talented girls and women who worked hard and followed their dreams. It’s about these girls’ parents, teachers and coaches, encouraging and supporting them. In the same vein, it’s about all of us, showing that we believe that football has the capacity to enrich peoples lives regardless of gender.
No matter where you are from, show your colors these next weeks. Enjoy and partake in this great event, and help make it biggest international celebration of women’s football yet.
(And on a concluding note – because yours truly is neither an objective observer nor a proverbial monkey with a typewriter that we keep in a janitor’s closet over at G&FSA’s HQ – a special shout out to Nora Holstad (#2) and the rest of the Norwegian World Cup squad. Best of luck on Wednesday ladies, make us proud!)
