Appendix 1 Showcase document

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1 Appendix 1 Showcase document 1. These School Girls Can! During This Girl Can in Herts Week 2016 lots of local schools got involved and embraced the concept, showing their support in many different ways. Here we have just two stories to capture some of the fantastic work the schools were doing to inspire their pupils. a. Cunningham Hill School This primary school in St Albans timetabled lunchtime activities that all the girls were encouraged to sign up to. If they signed up and took part in activities, they received a This Girl Can T Shirt. The T Shirts were designed by a teacher at the school and had the approval from This Girl Can. The activities during the week included Dodgeball, Volleyball, High 5 Netball, Fun Athletics and Rounders. Two teachers ran the activities so they could split into lower and upper KS2 groups. As these were lunchtime activities they had a very high turnout. In addition, each morning before school, teachers organised the Cunningham Girls Can Mile, a ten minute run for everyone. The girls actually ran a lot more than a mile and it was difficult to stop them to go into school! The Year 5 and 6 girls took part in the St Albans Girls School Games Kwik Cricket Tournament which had two teams representing the school. The girls all had their Cunningham School Girls Can tops on and loved showing these off at the tournament in the picture below:

b. Active Letchworth This Girl Can in Herts Assemblies Throughout This Girl Can in Herts Week Active Letchworth visited 375 girls in five Letchworth schools to motivate them to be active.

2 b. Active Letchworth This Girl Can in Herts Assemblies Throughout This Girl Can in Herts Week Active Letchworth visited 375 girls in five Letchworth schools to motivate them to be active. Local sportswomen (pictured below) who compete in a variety of disciplines shared their stories, showed off their medals and let the children try on their kit. The feedback was really positive and Norton St Nicholas School found it, really inspiring listening to young sports people passionate about their sports and dedicated to sharing their skills. Rachel Holmes plays for Letchworth Roller Hockey Club and went to Christopher School. She has competed for England and is aiming for the World Roller Sport Games in China, September Fiona Montgomery and Chloe Vernon-Hamilton train at Stevenage and North Herts Athletics Club. Fiona competes in Para Athletics and competed for England at the CPISRA World Games. She is currently No.1 in 400m / T35 Classification. Chloe grew up in Letchworth, attended the Highfield School and trains for the Heptathlon event. She has competed for England and is currently working towards qualification for the next Commonwealth Games. Eleanor Skipp and Danielle Males attend St Francis College. Eleanor is a member and coach for Letchworth Sports and Tennis Club and Danielle plays for Letchworth Hockey Club and has been Hertfordshire s Team goalkeeper. They both also coach in their school and help encourage and inspire the younger pupils in sport. Active Letchworth Partnership Lead Helen Macfarlane said, It was great to see up and coming athletes inspire the younger generation and in some cases, at the school they used to go to themselves. Even though they compete in front of huge crowds, it was lovely to see their presentation skills and confidence grow throughout the week. The children left the assemblies buzzing and asking how they can get involved to try a new sports. Contact Helen Macfarlane for more details: helen.macfarlane@letchworth.com

2. Sporting Champions Visits GB women s boxing star, Chantelle Cameron, inspires youngsters as part of This Girl Can in Herts Week 2016 through Olympic and Paralympic legacy project.

3 2. Sporting Champions Visits GB women s boxing star, Chantelle Cameron, inspires youngsters as part of This Girl Can in Herts Week 2016 through Olympic and Paralympic legacy project. Chantelle is one of Britain s top female boxers, having joined the GB boxing women s squad in 2011 after a whirlwind start to her boxing career that saw her go from novice to potential Olympian in less than 18 months. She is the current England Elite Champion and won gold at the President s Cup held in Turkey at the end of During This Girl Can in Herts Week 2016, Sporting Champion Chantelle visited a Sportivate funded female only boxing session at the Stevenage Haven that was part of the programme of activity during the week. Before her visit she was excited about attending so that she can help the female participants raise their own aspirations, and she said: I m really looking forward to this exciting Sportivate female project in Stevenage. I can t wait to help them get them into sport and share my experience of proudly representing my country. Sportivate is a fantastic way of getting young people into sport and that is something I am really passionate about. As a Sport England Sporting Champion I hope I can inspire girls to raise their aspirations of what they can achieve and motivate them to be the very best versions of themselves that they can. Pictured below is Chantelle with the group of females at the Boxing Sportivate session.

A second Sporting Champion also inspired a group during the This Girl Can in Herts Week 2016.

Lesley took up athletics when her older brother noticed she could run faster than other girls at school.

4 A second Sporting Champion also inspired a group during the This Girl Can in Herts Week International Athlete Lesley Owusu, who has represented Great Britain at the European, World and Commonwealth stages, visited Watford Grammar School for a Girls Athletics Satellite Club. Lesley took up athletics when her older brother noticed she could run faster than other girls at school. Soon afterwards she joined her local athletics club and was encouraged by her family and school teachers to keep up the training. Lesley is also a Sky Sports Living Sport Mentor and is committed to helping others, saying, I am passionate about making a positive difference in young people s lives and helping them to fulfil their potential. I strongly believe that these students can shape and define their own success through hard work and dedication. Lesley is pictured below supporting This Girl Can in Herts and with the girls from Watford Grammar s Satellite Club project. Sporting Champions is a Sport England initiative bringing world-class athletes face-to-face with young people and young adults to inspire and motivate them. For more information about Sporting Champions, please visit:

5 3. Herts Cricket Taster Hertfordshire Cricket and Herts Girls Can teamed up to run a This Girl Can in Herts Week taster session. Seven ladies took part in the really enjoyable and successful soft-ball session at St Margaretsbury Cricket Club, near Ware. All seven ladies were totally new to cricket, having never tried it before. By the end of the session they were all keen to take part again. Regular follow-up sessions have already been planned and are taking place at the club. The hope is they can build on the success with word-of-mouth promotion from the ladies and increase the numbers joining in. Hertfordshire Cricket is currently focusing on the women s game, as there are currently very few women s teams, playing more traditional hard ball cricket. The hope is that from the success of this session they will create some more casual sessions with a soft ball where women can just turn up and play rather than the more structured cricket that is the norm. Hertfordshire Cricket are planning to roll out Prosecco Cricket sessions, mirroring a very successful pilot project that took place in Yorkshire. These sessions will encourage a more social, light hearted way to get women playing some cricket across the county. To find out more about informal women s cricket contact: Sam Rose sam.rose@hertscricket.org

4. East Herts Everyone Active Hundreds of women sweated their way through a range of free fitness activities at Everyone Active leisure centres during This Girl Can in Herts Week.

6 4. East Herts Everyone Active Hundreds of women sweated their way through a range of free fitness activities at Everyone Active leisure centres during This Girl Can in Herts Week. Grange Paddocks Leisure Centre, Hartham Leisure Centre and Fanshawe Pool & Gym, operated by Everyone Active in partnership with East Herts District Council, were creative in their approach. Ladies took part in lift like a pro, in the gyms for some advice on learning to use weights for training. The sessions aimed to break down the misconception that lifting weights is not for women, and those that attended gained both knowledge and confidence to aid them in their strength training. A fantastic Hula Dance session saw a team of ladies working on their core and balance, whilst enjoying a fun cardio workout. These sessions will be continuing as part of a free six-week introductory programme designed to bring out the fun in exercise. You can see the ladies enjoying their session below: The centres also hosted a ladies-only swim evening, while groups of women attended free Aqua Aerobics sessions, getting active in the pool and dancing to their favourite tunes. They all also ran a Hot and Not Bothered competition, where women taking part in the free activities were encouraged to share their post-workout selfies. Three lucky winners were awarded annual memberships to their local centre. Our involvement with the This Girl Can in Herts Week 2016 campaign was a huge success. Removing the barriers to exercise and proving that keeping active can be fun is something Everyone Active is hugely passionate about, and we were delighted to see so many women coming along to try something new, said Everyone Active Contract Manager Mathew Nicholson. For more information, visit

5. New members for local clubs! During This Girl Can in Herts Weeks, partner organisations are key to putting on activities and sessions to encourage women and girls through their doors.

7 5. New members for local clubs! During This Girl Can in Herts Weeks, partner organisations are key to putting on activities and sessions to encourage women and girls through their doors. We were delighted with the number of clubs offering free or reduced rate taster sessions, membership offers and discount codes throughout the week. Below are examples from two clubs that were fully involved with the week and saw the benefits! a. Royston Rockets Royston BMX Club held a session for women that is slightly different from the norm, giving ladies the chance to try an activity they may never have done before. They promoted the sessions using the support pack provided by HSP, as well as their own tools to get new ladies along. 13 ladies attended the session, seven of who were new to BMX Cycling which is fantastic and the feedback gathered from the participants was great: Great time up at Royston Rockets BMX Racing Club with lots of first time riders at the #ThisGirlCan in Herts session! Thanks for to the club for organising it, was so lovely to see so many buzzing faces after their first laps! Great night with the female only coaching session. Smiles for miles. There's a beauty of a tender bruise to my right shoulder where I crashed and burned but my lipstick stayed intact despite my screaming and unladylike grunting! Superb BMX coaching from Lee & Darren from the Royston Rockets for the women and girls this evening - my old man kindly lent me his bike and armour! This image captures the ladies just before setting off on their first lap; and one of our photo competition winners too!

8 b. Knebworth Tennis Club An alternative approach was to host a fun and informal open session with professional coaches on hand to give guidance. As an extra incentive Knebworth Tennis Club offered tea and cake too. For any new players the club offered a very generous membership rate if they wanted to join the club. The price for membership for the year is usually 90 and they reduced this to 50 to encourage more ladies to join. Club member Clare, organised the session on behalf of the club and really enjoyed it. She said, The session was really fun and throughout the afternoon 16 ladies joined in, and nine of these were new to the club. We really hope they take up the reduced rate membership offer - two of the ladies already have which is brilliant news and makes the session totally worthwhile. We even managed to encourage a mum and daughter who were walking their dog in the park to come and give tennis a try! The ladies pictured below - before they went for cake!

9 6. Moving Mums Relay Run & Celebration Event On the final Sunday of This Girl Can in Herts Week 2016, the HSP supported 14 teams, that s 56 runners to enter the Hertfordshire Relay Run, held recently at Hartham Common in Hertford. As participants of the Moving Mums project, all of the mums had been encouraged to start running at local and friendly sessions at their children s school gates; either after morning drop off or before the afternoon collection. The project focus is to encourage mums with children of primary school age to increase their levels of physical activity and sport. Instructor led running, cycling, aerobics and yoga sessions are all on offer in or close to the participating primary schools. Proving hugely popular across the county, Moving Mums currently caters for some 400 mums, at 30 Primary schools and a number of Children s centres. And that number is growing weekly. The project recognises that young mothers have very busy schedules and provides the opportunity for participation, at the school gates, at a time which suits them. Not only has the programme increased activity levels amongst local mums, but has created friendship groups and mutual support networks for mums who can often feel isolated and disconnected during the formative years of their children s lives. Free training is offered to group members, who in time take over the leadership of the sessions, with the ongoing support of HSP. So far 45 mums have qualified as leaders, helping to make the local Moving Mums groups sustainable The activity was followed by a celebration event with Prosecco and cake to recognise the commitment and achievements of the participating Moving Mums, and the success of the programme locally. In welcoming that success, Jane Parker, Women & Girls Project Officer at the Herts Sports & Physical Activity Partnership said: I am absolutely delighted with the success of the project, and the enthusiasm and commitment of our Moving Mums groups. Quite a number of these ladies were inactive before they joined the programme, and now they report greatly increased activity levels, a more positive mind-set, and have forged friendships with other mums who are in similar situations. Some of these sessions are attracting upwards of 30 mums on a school day morning or afternoon.

One of our local leaders, Sarah, from Hertingfordbury Primary School discovered that she had breast cancer in the winter of 2015 so had to stop leading the sessions at the school.

The mums did this and now that Sarah is well on the road to recovery, she has got involved with the session again and took part in the recent Relay Run.

10 One of our local leaders, Sarah, from Hertingfordbury Primary School discovered that she had breast cancer in the winter of 2015 so had to stop leading the sessions at the school. Nevertheless she encouraged the mums to keep going without her and just get out and about walking to keep the momentum of the group going. The mums did this and now that Sarah is well on the road to recovery, she has got involved with the session again and took part in the recent Relay Run. Such an outstanding achievement for somebody still receiving treatment typifies the wonderful spirit, determination and camaraderie within our Moving Mums groups. Hertfordshire Moving Mums celebrate their completion of the relay run. and then enjoy Prosecco and cake! For more information about the Moving Mums project contact Jane Parker:

11 7. Olympic Sports Challenge: Angela s Story To help with her ambitious Olympic Challenge to try every Olympic sport throughout the year, local Hertfordshire resident Angela Keen, got very involved during This Girl Can in Herts Week This is Angela s story: When I was a child I was afraid of sports. Afraid of coming last, hurting myself, trying something new and worst of all afraid of people watching me. For my first infant school sports day, I threw myself down the driveway to get out of taking part - I still have the scars on my knees as a memento! At junior school I feigned sickness to avoid dance classes, and at 16 years old I took a week off school with laryngitis when I knew it was my turn to lead an aerobics session in PE. Yet as soon as I became an adult with free will to choose whatever career I desired, guess what I did? I decided to become a personal trainer, face all my fears and just a few months ago found myself on stage outside Wembley Stadium leading an aerobics session for a corporate 5k run! You see I got tired of being afraid of things, tired of missing out because my own mind-set was holding me back. So ever since I turned 21, I decided to face my fears and have a go at everything. It s taken me a lot of places, from being strapped to the top of an aeroplane to SCUBA diving shipwrecks, and even though some things have been scary and some things involved the hardest work, I ve been so proud to have done them. At the age of 32, I m now an old hand at new things, so when the Rio Olympic year came around, I decided to have a go at them all. Every Olympic sport. In doing so, I realised that in Hertfordshire we are so fortunate that we really do have the opportunity to do everything. I have been amazed at what unusual sports are on offer if you look for them. What s more, I ve been amazed to find that a lot of my sessions have been completely free. There is absolutely no excuse not to get involved when it s on your doorstep and it doesn t cost a penny. Some things, like tennis are always free. You just need a racket, a ball and a friend to play with, as most parks have free courts and others offer free tasters, so I ve managed to do synchronised swimming, rugby and lots more for nothing. Some of the sessions during This Girl Can in Herts Week were great for this - canoeing, rowing, volleyball to name just a few. In my role as a personal trainer, I see many clients who are reluctant to try new sports. They are afraid of not being good enough, of letting a team down or just not fitting in. For this Olympic Challenge, I ve deliberately put myself in that position. Rugby worried me most in this respect, but

Getting involved in some sports has been surprisingly easy; I was amazed to find a synchronised swimming class in my home town open to beginners.

12 all the women I met were the most inclusive, welcoming, helpful and encouraging people I could have hoped to have spent time with. I found High-board diving to be a great leveller and if you can laugh off a few belly flops you can learn a lot about letting go of self-consciousness. Getting involved in some sports has been surprisingly easy; I was amazed to find a synchronised swimming class in my home town open to beginners. Some have been predictably elusive, for example, women s wrestling classes seem to be few and far between. Some have been prohibitively expensive (an average cost of 70 to enter a triathlon) and others surprisingly cheap in comparison (a 100-mile cycle for less than 20). Taking on this challenge has taught me a lot: Getting involved with team sports or clubs is a great way to make friends It s ok to come last, you re still stronger, faster, better than anyone that didn t even give it a go It s all out there waiting for you to get involved, and there s something for everyone no matter what your strengths and skills are and no matter what your budget Initiatives such as This Girl Can are fantastic opportunities to open doors to sports you never thought you could do, and those opportunities are severely under-used. Make the most of them or they might disappear! No matter where you start from or what sort of person you used to be, you can always turn things around. If the little girl who was so terrified of sports day can end up doing every sport going, so can you. To read more about Angela s Olympic Hero challenge and her other blogs visit:

MINISTERIAL WRITTEN STATEMENT. Tuesday 5 November 2013 SPORTING LEGACY

MINISTERIAL WRITTEN STATEMENT. Tuesday 5 November 2013 SPORTING LEGACY Ministerial Support Team 4th Floor 100 Parliament Street London SW1A 2BQ T: 0207 211 6288 www.gov.uk/dcms MINISTERIAL WRITTEN STATEMENT Tuesday 5 November 2013 SPORTING LEGACY Parliamentary Under Secretary