Women in Sport

Sparks

From the Irish Sports Council:

Dedicated Women in Sport website launched
The Irish Sports Council has launched a new website specifically for and about Irish women interested in sport. The website, www.womeninsport.ie was developed as part of the Women in Sport initiative which provides specific resources aimed at supporting women in Irish sport. This information initiative is new and aims to make a contribution to the promotion of sport and physical activity for women
This site is for all women interested in sport. We want to hear what you want to be included on the site so that it will make a real contribution to sport. For more information, visit www.womeninsport.ie or contact info@womeninsport.ie

The website is currently being updated, but for the lady shooters out there, this is one to watch.

Sparks

Not quite what they had in mind, I suspect Riggser...

LB6

Website is up and running - pardon the pun!

Riggser

Sparks wrote:

Not quite what they had in mind, I suspect Riggser...

I think her firearms handling is a little weak but still it's pointing in a safe direction. The rifle that is.

Sparks

Possibly Riggser, but that's not exactly office-safe (to say nothing of how little it promotes the involvement of women in sport, which is pretty much the point of the exercise). Post deleted...

Riggser

Has anyone, male or female, complained? Did you give them a chance to? PC gone mad.

Sparks

Riggser, maybe you work in your own office, but I sure don't; and when your boss sits across from you in an open-plan office, you try to ensure it doesn't look like you're surfing through porn sites during work hours!

Riggser

The relationship with your boss is obviously professional. Yet they do allow you to go onto a discussion board during working hours? If you only left the first picture up and I still haven't seen a female post yet in this thread.

Anyway I'll stop this line of posting.

LB6

look again!

Sparks

Yet they do allow you to go onto a discussion board during working hours?

I don't smoke. Hence, no smoking breaks. Hence, no problems if I take a few minutes here and there to read here. And you have seen a woman post here.

Riggser

Ha ha ha! Hi LB6, how are you?

LB6

Grand thanks and you. Thought everyone knew I was female by now.

Saw the picture you put up earlier. (didn't appreciate it). If you like females in the shooting sports, can you give me an answer to my thread "other halves"?

S

Riggser

I think you've got it wrong. I was making an attempt at humour with the photo knowing all to well that it was going to recieve some unhappy commentary. If I posted a picture of a man in a similar pose would you react the same?

Before I'm lynched I have no problem with women in any sport not just this one and I'd like to see a firing point at competitions with a 50/50 mix. It's just at the moment it's not a popular sport with women. Am I wrong? Well you ask any woman you know would she like to try out shooting in what ever form and see what she has to say?

LB6

"I was making an attempt at humour "
I knew that. Was just thinking to myself, what would the reaction be if I'd put up Arnie or Rambo. How would the lads react? :-)

"I have no problem with women in any sport not just this one"
That's good to hear. But what have you done to encourage your female counterparts to join you on the range.

I have actually brought a friend down with me and she thoroughly enjoyed the day, even though it was freezing cold. So I am doing my part.

As we all know, it is a male dominated sport, so the onus would really be on the men to encourage the women to join, not visa versa.

S

Sparks

Riggser wrote:

I'd like to see a firing point at competitions with a 50/50 mix.

Show up at an air rifle match sometime for the finals so.

I think (though I may be wrong) that the idea of an indoor sport in a clean, warm environment that goes to olympic level, where the equipment is neat and bright and clean, where machismo means squat and where women can compete with men (and young with old) on a completely equal footing without needing any sort of handicapping system, is just appealing to a lot of women. At least, that's the impression we got over the last decade in recruiting for college clubs.

les45

We have two ladies shooting practical pistol, with 3 more very interested in joining, not a earth shattering shift in gender balance but it is a start. DVC John

Rovi

LB6 wrote:

"I was making an attempt at humour "
I knew that. Was just thinking to myself, what would the reaction be if I'd put up Arnie or Rambo. How would the lads react? :-)

There'd probably be a spirited discussion on the relative merits of John Rambo (Stallone) vs. Alan 'Dutch' Schaeffer (Schwarzenegger, Predator), and whether a hand held minigun with limited ammunition is better than an M-60 with a magical endless ammo belt.


.

Riggser

Riggser

That should even things out.

Sparks

Not really riggser. Now you go posting photos from Brokeback Mountain or the like, and you'd probably be closer to the "evening things out" mark.

LB6

OK - gone off topic here.

Back to the point in question.

How would you go about encouraging the females to join our sport. If you had the ability to change things, what would you change to make it more "female user" friendly. (not that we're complaining mind you - we can stand up with the rest of you)

Sparks

How? Well, on a practical level, clean up the facilities. Paint clubhouse walls, in some cases actually have clubhouse walls, proper toilets, heating, generally have the range not look like the inside of a delapidated toolshed.

In personal terms, not quite sure. We seem to attract a nearly 50-50 gender mix in the college clubs (well, with this and last year excepted anyway - for the past decade the active shooters have been pretty close to half-and-half).

I guess:

Promote successful female shooters so that you have an example to point towards for beginners to show that the sport does not prejudice against women.

Promote a less tunnel-visioned way of training through coach education. The Meath LSP just ran a coaching course there last night on coaching kids from the u12s to collegiate level and it was very educational. Showed me several problems with how we coach collegiate level at the moment and gave several ideas as to how to fix it; but it applied equally to both men and women.

Promote the "safe and harmless" image of our sport. Not so much Riggser's photo above as ones like this:


or this:

Rovi

Two words- Civilised Toilets.

Seriously.
My involvement with various groups and activities over the years has shown this to be a universal truth. You can have all the welcome mats and coffee machines you like, but if the toilet facilities consist of skulking around in the bushes, the ladies will not be coming back.

The ranges I know actively discourage testosterone driven 'Rambo' behaviour, so there's generally a pretty gender neutral atmosphere about these places anyway.

.

Sparks

From WomeninSport.ie:

The inaugural Women in Sport Networking event, as part of the ISC's Women in Sport Initiative was held in the Terrace Cafe of the National Concert Hall on Wednesday Jan 25th 2006

The event was well attended by representatives of various NGBs and LSPs, and other interested individuals including Debbie Massey, CEO of Irish Basketball, Noel King, Irish Ladies International Soccer Manager, Grania Willis of the Irish Times, and President of Camogie Miriam O'Callaghan.

The aim of the evening was to give everyone the opportunity to identify current issues and network with women involved in sports administration. Mary Davis, CEO of Special Olympics Ireland kicked off the event by outlining her experiences in sport as a youngster, moving onto her career in sport as Director of Special Olympics Ireland and detailing how Ireland managed to secure and host the World Games in 2003 and the challenges she and her team met along the way.

Mary was followed to the podium by Shelia O'Flanagan, well known author and perhaps less well known for her involvement over a number of years within Irish Badminton as Treasurer to the Union. Shelia spoke of how participating in sport serves to greatly enhance the confidence of the individual, and spoke elloquently of the character sport can help to build in a person and of its many values to young girls and women. She also highlighted some of the barriers to sports participation and administration for women and urged the audience to work to remove those barriers.

Deirdre Lavin, Coordinator of Sligo Sports and Recreation Partnership, was the final speaker on the night, and outlined the many practical steps the Partnership in Sligo is taking to encourage more women or girls into sport, through for example their ACTIVE GIRLS initiative and their Walking Weekends, as well as the Youth Sport Foyle Programme. Feel free to visit www.sligosportandrecreation.ie for more infomration on their programmes.

Lively debate followed the speakers and various key issues were raised including the need for female role models in Irish Sport, the need for action in the area of confidence building with regard to encouraging more Women to become involved on sports committees and within sports administration and many more.

Due to the success of the event the ISC proposes to hold another WIS networking event in the near future to develop the ideas and issues raised and channel them into action through the Women in Sport Initiative. If you are interested in attending the next Networking session or have a particular viewpoint or suggestion for the WIS initiative please make contact with Fiona Coyne in the ISC: [URL="email://fcoyne@irishsportscouncil.ie"]fcoyne@irishsportcouncil.ie[/URL] or write to us at Women in Sport, Irish Sports Council, Top Floor, Block A, Westend Office Park, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15.

Sparks

Unfortunately none of the shooting sports bodies sent representatives to the above meeting; perhaps they ought to for the next one?

LB6

Sorted. Have just asked to be put on the mailing list to be informed of the next mtg. Would be nice to get a positive "spoke" in.

Vinniew

As for asking our "other halfs" to attend the range.....I did......so she has a go off the BR.......puts in a few 10Xs....beginners luck I think......she does it again and asks....."so what's so difficult about that?"
Needless to say.......won't be asking her to come down again!

As for anyone else out there.......off-set ur optics before you hand over your rifle........lesson learned

Sparks

From the Irish Sports Council website:

Women in Sport Grant Allocation
14/9/2006

Minister O’Donoghue: “I recognise the need to target investment in participation programmes for women. The success of the 2005 Women in Sport programme has led to the substantial increase in funding for 2006 for the wide range of innovative projects aimed at getting women of all ages physically active”.

The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr John O’Donoghue T.D. announced the details of the 2006 Women in Sport initiative today, September 14, at Irishtown Stadium.

The Irish Sports Council allocated more than €2 million under the 2006 Women in Sport Grant Scheme. €1.4 million is going to 35 projects which emphasises innovative programmes designed to provide access to sport and remove the barriers that prevent women taking part in part as participants, coaches or officials. Basketball Ireland and Cumann Peil Gael na mBan received special recognition for their ongoing work for women in sport through funding totalling €620,000.

Minister O’Donoghue: “ In addition to this programme of funding for organisations which promote women's sport, I was pleased to be able to afford priority under the 2006 Sports Capital Programme to projects where it is demonstrated that there would be greater involvement of women in their particular sport through the development of facilities”.

One new and exciting project made possible by the funding is fit4life, unveiled at Irishtown by Gary Ryan, Head of Development at Athletics Ireland. The new mass participation running programme called fit4life is based on the very successful West Waterford Athletics Club’s 16-week winter league programme. It has been running since 1994 with an average of 350 participants per week. The social element has been a strong feature of the success of the West Waterford running league.

The leagues will be run in 14 locations around the country. Clubs will hold 2 eight-week leagues from October to February. Clubs along with the Local Sport Partnerships and the AAI development Officers will be active partners to ensure the events’ success.

Tracy Piggott, Chairperson, Women in Sport Steering Group, said at the launch “Our group identified a mass participation event such as fit4life as being an important feature of the Women in Sport grant programme in 2006. AAI are using their established network and expertise to reach a whole new audience. It is an exciting programme with huge potential and the prospect of being a model for other sports”.

Minister O’Donoghue: “This year, there is special recognition of the needs of Basketball Ireland and Cumann Peil Gael na mBan, two organisations that provide quality opportunities for women to participate in sport and that require this investment to expand their range of activities”.

The funding for Basketball Ireland is designed to build on their Regional Development Officer network. There is also dedicated funding of €120,000 in 2006 to support BI’s activities as part of the European Year of Women’s Basketball.

Cumann Peil Gael na mBan received funding to assist the implementation of their Strategic Plan and to build on the success of their pilot programmes in 2005. In 2006 they have commenced a series of innovative programmes such as Gaelic4Girls, Ready…Steady…Play, and Ladies, Grab your Whistle.

The announcement included a major investment of €250,000 to support the FAI’s aim to fully develop the women’s game at all levels throughout the country. Their programme is fully linked with the FAI Technical Development Plan, with substantial investment in staffing.

The 2005 Women in Sport Programme was very popular with governing bodies and the grant aid received resulted in some very popular programmes notable in hockey, swimming and camogie.

Ossie Kilkenny, Chair of the Irish Sports Council: “The Minister has made available substantial funds for investment in targeted participation programmes for women. We are delighted with the range and quality of the submissions we received. It is a vote of confidence in the governing bodies and the sports partnerships that we are confident that they can make a major impact on the rate of female participation”.

In 2006 a new Women in Sport Logo was developed as well as a Women in Sport website. The Irish Sports Council’s Women in Sport website, www.womeninsport.ie showcases all these initiatives, informs women as to when events will be on in their areas, provides links to other sites where women can find participation opportunities, provides information on fitness and to allows them to send in their stories and photographs to be featured on the website.

John Treacy, Chief Executive, Irish Sports Council: “We recognise the need to provide quality and accessible opportunities in sport for women of all ages. We will be recruiting a dedicated officer to work with the sports partnerships and governing bodies to ensure that this investment will have the desired impact in this crucial area.”

End

For further information

Paul McDermott Irish Sports Council 087-6486295
Ian McClure O’Herlihy Communciations 01-6602744.

Women in Sport Grant Allocations (Word file, 0.05Mb)

garmac

"other halfs" to attend the range.....I did......so she has a go off the BR.......puts in a few....beginners luck I think......she does it again and asks....."so what's so difficult about that?"

Hey Vinnie-Here's your brother. My wife came clay shooting with me before and wiped the floor with me; using my gun! its an old Citori with 30" barrels which weighs about 500kg's, and she's a petite 5'6". Oh well...........:D

Sparks

From the Women in Sport website:

Inspirational Moments, Photo Competition

How would you like your photo and written article featured in next year’s 2007 Women in Sport Calendar?

We are inviting you to submit a “Women in Sport” photograph that inspires you and an explanation of your reasons why, in less than 150 words. We will be selecting and featuring the 12 most inspiring photos and article to feature in next year’s calendar.

It could be a photo from the www.womeninsport.ie website or one that you have taken yourself of a particular activity. The closing date for entries is 31st October 2006.

Please send your entry via the Feedback Form on www.womeninsport.ie. Please also include your full name and address as all entrants will receive a copy of the 2007 Women in Sport Calendar.

Winning Prize

If you are one of the lucky winners, not only will we feature your photo and article on the 2007 Women in Sport Calendar, we will also provide you with a framed sporting photograph of your choice.

We've already sent this shot in as an entry:


Fingers crossed!

phantom_lord

I think I may have ruined this photo...