VP Sport Dom Brown highlights the significance of 'This Girl Can' week and the importance of celebrating our amazingly talented female sports clubs and competitors.
The Royal Holloway Sport playing kit - coloured green, white and purple – represents the close ties the University has to the Suffragettes, who fought for women’s right to vote. It is amazing to see how they paved the way for the levels of equality we see today. One of the ways in which we see this is through sport, we have many amazingly talented dedicated female sports clubs and representations of women across all sports. We should continue this 365 days a year, but it is great to have a week such as ‘This Girl Can’ where it can be spotlighted and celebrated.
Already, we have seen an event where Women’s Football, Women’s Rugby and a variety of societies such as Feminist Society, Sustainability Society and Refugee Society, played a game of football while collecting donations of sanitary towels and tampons. It is great to see the two clubs mentioned, as well as female dominated sports such as Netball, Cheer and Trampolining excelling both on and off the field of play. However, it would be silly to ignore the growth of female participation in a variety of clubs such as the Women’s cricket team growing from strength to strength, as well as great participation in the plethora of martial arts clubs we have on campus. We also have Riding’s first competition coming up on Wednesday 21 November so good luck to them!
As part of ‘This Girl Can’ week, the University gym down at the sports centre will be hosting daily sessions as part of their ‘This Girl Can Lift’ scheme. The aim is to empower women and help them to feel comfortable in a gym environment, which can sometimes be an intimidating atmosphere. It is also a great opportunity for members to learn the correct form and exercises from the personal trainers that work at the gym.
The sessions are FREE to attend for all students and are running Monday through Friday this week, 11:45-13:00. If you would like to attend these sessions then you can book on the Royal Holloway Sport section of the college website or phone the sports centre helpdesk on 01784 434455. The sessions available are:
- Monday: legs & glutes
- Tuesday: backs & abs
- Wednesday: legs
- Thursday: upper body
- Friday: functional training
If you have any questions or need any more information, please contact me at VPSports@su.rhul.ac.uk or come and talk to me upstairs in the Students’ Union building.
Dom Brown // Vice President Sport