February 16, 2024, by Habbi Liton
Student Volunteering Week: Empower Leadership Programme
The EMPOWER Girls Leadership programme aims to involve young girls in sports and physical activity, inspiring themselves and allowing for personal development and growth in becoming sports leaders, hoping to inspire others in their schools to be more active.
On Tuesday 16th January more than 70 girls from Nottingham City schools took part in the programme, hosted at David Ross Sports Village in partnership with the University of Nottingham, Active Notts, School Sport Nottingham and Youth Sport Trust. The day allowed the girls to learn the basics of sports like boxing, fencing and table tennis, whilst also allowing the female student sport leaders to develop their leadership and communication skills when teaching the sessions. Kitty, a volunteer from the UoN Boxing club volunteered on the day and said, “The EMPOWER day was something that Boxing were incredibly grateful to be part of! Boxing is often a sport seen to be dominated by males, so to give young girls the space and opportunity to learn a new sport was incredible. The programme is a wonderful scheme that opens the sporting world to young girls, allowing them to participate in sports that aren’t your stereotypical ‘female’ sports.”
Throughout the day, the girls attended workshops delivered by Youth Sport Trust which helped them recognise the barriers for girls in sport and allowed them to explore their motivations and approaches in ways to overcome them. It gave the girls an opportunity to build confidence towards sports and physical activity. During the workshops, the girls were supported by female student volunteers from the University of Nottingham who will go into the schools and closely work with the group of sport leaders. Sanah, one of the pupils who participated in the day said, “I thought the day was really good. It has inspired me to become a good leader to help girls who lack confidence in sport. I want to help others, so they don’t have to hide behind others. I loved the whole day.”
A teacher from the day said, “Overall I thought the day was great and provided opportunities for the girls to take part in sports they’ve never participated in before. It also gave the girls chance to think about barriers girls face or even themselves and I felt this really inspired the girls. I walked away with 6 girls who felt empowered to make a difference at Djanogly and that is truly fantastic!”
To find out more about the programme or to get inv0lved please contact joanne.turner@nottingham.ac.uk
You can find out more about our Leadership academy here.
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