General News
15 October, 2024
Promoting healthy and safe physical activity
To promote fun and inclusive physical activity, local women are being encouraged to enjoy a run, swim, hit and kick together this October with VicHealth’s This Girl Can initiative.
The Central Goldfields Shire Council has partnered with Sports Focus to facilitate the program filled with 60 free activities at 11 local sporting organisations and community groups.
The VicHealth initiative aims to support Victorian women to embrace physical activity and try something new by fostering safe and welcoming spaces.
According to VicHealth research, 64 percent of Victorian women want to get more active, but various barriers prevent them from participating, including;
- Self-confidence issues — according to a Vic Health survey, 41 percent of Victorian women feel too embarrassed to exercise in public.
- Time — many women struggle to find time for exercise due to commitment to family, friends, domestic duties, study and work and often feel wrong putting themselves over others.
- Limited opportunities — lack of variety in affordable and accessible opportunities designed for female participation.
- Fear of judgement — VicHealth research pinpoints this as one barrier consistent across all female life stages. Feeling unwelcome and constantly being judged for their appearance or ability can cause women to feel embarrassed, change their behaviour or become disengaged.
Maryborough Martial Arts head instructor and Maryborough Tennis Club president Heather Carr said she witnesses local women struggle to tackle these hurdles regularly.
“I think Maryborough offers a great range of opportunities for whatever sports people want to pursue, but time constraints, particularly for women with young families and people working a lot are the barriers,” she said.
“I often see in taekwondo that women can feel self-conscious if they are carrying a bit of weight.
“Women often say to me ‘when I lose some weight, I’ll come to taekwondo’, but it’s not about that, it’s about starting.”
According to VicHealth, flexible, non-organised activities such as walking, cycling and swimming catered to a particular skill level or goal in an encouraging and social atmosphere is the optimal environment for females to start and stay active.
Ms Carr believes the This Girl Can program is a needed platform to implement these ideas and make women more comfortable in enjoying the benefits of exercise.
“I’m a real advocate for women in fitness — I love being fit and looking after yourself is a preventative measure to getting sick or injured,” she said.
“A martial art is great for your self-esteem, when you are learning a martial art, you get to work on your physical improvement.
“For young women particularly, it’s a great stress reliever from school activities to punch a bag and even for mums who have busy lives with work and kids.
“Tennis is an opportunity to get a skill that will take you through life, you can play tennis into your 80s and 90s — our Wednesday night competition has people playing from 15 to 70 year olds.
“Sometimes women and teenagers come along to a sports opportunity with friends — if you can buddy up with somebody and give it a go, that’s the best introduction for anyone in any sport.”
Maryborough Sports and Leisure Centre coordinator and Carisbrook Lady Redbacks captain Caitlin Butler agreed with Ms Carr’s comments and encourages local women to get involved and try out new activities.
“It’s a great initiative to get women and girls involved in sport and try and increase opportunities in our small town,” she said.
“There’s a lot of barriers for women and girls to get involved so we want to create a supportive, friendly and comfortable environment to hopefully alleviate some of those barriers.
“There is always room for improvement in creating new opportunities to make it more accessible — female-exclusive events or groups help.
“Even if you are not interested in playing football or joining a class, we encourage anyone interested to come along and check it out.”
The local This Girl Can program runs until Sunday, October 27, for more information and to register for an event, visit sportsfocus.com.au/this-girl-can-central-goldfields-event-registration