Women in Sports Breakfast Inspiring Girls

A group of Year 10 and 11 girls, were fortunate to have been given the opportunity to attend a Women in Sports breakfast at Griffith University. 

At the beginning, we were welcomed by staff and invited guests and were lucky enough to listen to a panel conference consisting of five inspiring women. We heard from Naomi McCarthy, who was the director of the Griffith sports panel, as well as Anabell McLaren and Taylah Favier, who both studied sports sciences, one in which now works with the Gold Coast Titans. Sara Wyner shared her experience in marketing and social engagement within sports, and Sam Hughes showed us an insight into her daily life of working in active and healthy alliance on the Gold Coast. 

After this we were placed into groups and got to rotate around three activities. The first one primarily consisted of an active conversation between students on the ways we can increase participation in all sports for women, ensuring equal pay and inclusivity. Afterwards, we learned about the technologies used to study biomechanics in sports, with students placing trackers on their arms or legs and either doing some bowling or hoola hooping. This data was then collected, and students had to observe trends and body movement. 

Lastly, we were fortunate enough to hear about the undergraduate degrees of sport sciences in a lecture theatre, and then following that we all participated in different sport tests including force plates, knee strength, reaction time , and identifying what sport would need these aspects. It was clear that all the girls came out of the day with a better understanding on what they may like to study in university, as well as how we can increase participation for women in sports throughout the community.

On behalf of all the girls, we would like to thank Mr Robinson for providing us with this opportunity, and for Liv Sina for coming along with us for the day.