My celebrations on international women’s day got me thinking…
Why have I stayed in sport/exercise, and why is it such a big part of my life?
What are the barriers to exercise for women? And what can we do to help it?
Simple question, but what can we do to answer them in a constructive way. I’ll look at question 1 today.
I joined Specialized Bikes and Brotherton Cycles in recent months to do exactly that. It’s my aim as a ladies cycling ambassador to get women riding!
I have also recently begun a run leadership role to help people in the less affluent areas of Cambridge get active. All participants get paid in Amazon Vouchers if they attend 10 weeks in a row!
My job as a physiotherapist has a lot of facets to it (pardon the anatomical pun!) and getting the public active is one of the main ones. In my day to day role on the NHS wards, I’m encouraging a return to normal activity and independence following cardiac surgery or heart/lung transplants. I also work with young cystic fibrosis patients to improve their fitness and help them maintain lung function.
I am constantly talking about sport or exercise at work, trying to be positive and engage in active goal setting, whilst always promoting a healthy lifestyle. If exercise can become a part of your life then the evidence shows you feel more energised, it helps your mood and self-confidence too! We are all living lives that are too busy, too media focused and this is having a huge effect on mental health. We need to use this new idea of ‘mindfulness’ to bring ourselves back to the present, and if we can do so with some chill out time whilst exercising then that’s even better.
I have always been active. We weren’t the type of family to be allowed PlayStations or a lot of TV as a youngster. My dad’s a cyclist, and I was a daddy’s girl. The rest of my family are more fair weather sports people; it has taken some persuasion to get my mum involved in particular. From a young age I was competitive as a swimmer, and this sports ‘drive’ came from me. My drive has helped me become the athlete and physio that I am today and I am aware that the two feed off one another in my personality as a whole. I take my own advice, to an extent, and I try to remember that I am always privileged to be able to do sport at any level. Many don’t have the opportunities.
I need to acknowledge throughout this blog that I am a white middle class lady, having grown up between Newcastle Upon Tyne and Yorkshire, and these are purely my own experiences. These experiences will vary around the country, and are dependent on background. However, I hope my perspective from my engagement with people from different aspects of society, can help me to positively assess social impact and opportunities in sport…
A huge basis of my involvement in community sport is confidence and belief in oneself. This is something I want to instil into others. We all have the capacity to learn, if we take an active interest, and once we learn new skills, we can develop further, and apply these skills in new ways. Then we can teach others, and so the cycle begins!
If I can encourage just a handful of people to be confident in themselves through sport, then my work here is done!
Next up….
What barriers are faced by women?
So how can we get ladies confident enough to engage with sport and activity?
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