SPORtS FOR ALL encouraging young people to try sports outside the normal gender safety zone
fun facts about sports for girls and boys
MY PROJECT When I was at school I found that boys were pushed into sports such as football, rugby, and cricket and they, like myself were rarely provided with the opportunity to participate in sports such as netball, hockey, and gymnastics. For me this began at a young age. I started playing sport at a club level from the age of five, and I went straight into football and rugby clubs to see which sport would be for me. My father played rugby throughout his childhood and continued until a short time before I was born. My father’s experiences were identical to those of my former male PE teachers and are probably the same as those who plan the curriculum in schools across the country. Female PE teachers and students I have noticed often have very similar experiences, albeit with very different sports. It is this lack of opportunity which has motivated me to try to help more children to find a sport that they enjoy and play proudly. I enlisted the help of Fixers, the campaign that gives young people a voice, to create this booklet. I hope that this booklet will go some way to changing these perceptions of which sports are ‘for girls’ and ‘ for boys’, and will provide students with the encouragement to try something new - and, who knows, to maybe even kick start a boy’s journey to becoming an Olympic gymnast champion, or a girl’s dream of winning the rugby World Cup.
-Lewis, 20
WORKING TOGETHER I’ve called this ‘Sports for all’ because from past experience I’ve noticed often boys and girls can feel like some sports are ‘not for them’. I’d love for this booklet to help change that. The first place to challenge this is in P.E. lessons at school. I have included six sports in this booklet, but I want it to inspire young people to try other sports. Maybe a P.E session could include a boy’s cheerleading lesson? Or a girl’s basketball game? I hope using this booklet in your lessons will help teach girls and boys about different sports in a fun way, and get them to try playing sports that they may not have had the opportunity to try before. Let us know how you get on via Twitter: #sportsforall
FOOTBALL Football is the most popular sport in the world! It’s a fun fast paced sport which is based around two teams of 11, trying to score as many goals as possible. It’s often played in teams of 5 on smaller pitches. There are many positions you can play GOALKEEPER - The guardian of the goal, helps the team by stopping the other team scoring. DEFENDER - These are the last line before the goalkeeper, helping stop the opponents attacks. MIDFIELDER - The all-rounders, helping out the defence in times of need, or create a chance for the.. STRIKER - The strikers main job is to score those all important goals! Why not find out which position suits you best!
DID YOU KNOW? The first women’s football match was played in 1895, twenty-three years after the first men’s match in 1872. Two female England football players received MBE awards from the Queen in 2016: Steph Houghton and Fara Williams.
The info on this page has been sourced from: growingkids.org.uk thefa.com wembleystadium.com bbc.co.uk
NETball Netball is played with 7 players in either side. At least 5 players are required for the match to be played and one of those needs to play as the ‘centre’. It’s like basketball, but bouncing the ball is not allowed. The seven positions for players are: Centre – to take the centre pass and link defence and attack; Goal Shooter – to score goals and to work with the goal attacker; Goal Attack – to work with the goal shooter and to score goals; Wing Attack – to setup the central players and help them score; Wing Defence – to prevent the wing attack from passing to the attacking players; Goal Defence – to win the ball and limit the Goal Attack’s play; Goal Keeper – to prevent the Goal Shooter and Goal Attack from scoring. Netball was first created in England in 1892. A netball goal post is 3.05 metres high – that’s over 10 feet!
MY EXPERIENCE
“I might have fallen in love with netball and played it to a very high level, I may have dreamed of being an Olympic gymnast before pursuing this ambition with great success. But I will never know because netball leagues for men are very rare, and by my personal experience, it is largely condemned and rarely facilitated for boys to participate in gymnastics inside or outside of school.”
The info on this page has been sourced from: kidzsearch.com englandnetball.co.uk mensnetballaust.com.au sportingpulse.com
GYMNASTICS Gymnastics involves the use of physical strength, flexibility, balance, control, power, agility and coordination to perform a variety of exercises. It is one of the oldest sports in the world, dating back two or three of years to the ancient Greeks. Gymnasts must meet certain requirements in their routines and points are awarded for the difficulty and technical proficiency of the performance. A higher score represents a more skilled performance. Gymnasts have 30 seconds to return to the apparatus after a fall or a mistake, and each routine has a set time limit which depends on the type of routine (e.g. floor/beam).
DID YOU KNOW? In the Olympics only men can compete in the Rings, Parallel Bars, Horizontal Bars, and Pommel Horse. In the most recent Olympics (Rio 2016) team GB won 7 medals. 3 Men and 2 Women won medals - showing it truly is a Sport for all. In rio
The info on this page has been sourced from: softschools.com gymnastics.about.com kidskonnect.com
HOCKEY Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to manoeuvre a ball or a puck into the opponent’s goal using a hockey stick. A goal is scored when the ball passes between the goalposts and underneath the crossbar. There are 11 players on a field hockey team. Only the flat side of the hockey stick can be used to control, pass and shoot. Hockey is usually played on a pitch in the UK – in America and Canada it is often played on ice with smaller teams of six. Historical records show that an early form of hockey was played 4000 years ago in Egypt.
DID YOU KNOW? Men’s hockey has the fastest swing speed of any sport, including golf andMen’s baseball. hockey has the fastest swing speed of any sport,
Men’s hockey has been included the Olympic since 1908; Women’s including golfinand baseball.Games (source: eurohockey2015.co.uk) hockey only became an Olympic event in 1980.
The info on this page has been sourced from: kidskonnect.com kallikids.com eurohockey2015.co.uk
CRICKET Cricket is a game played with a bat and ball on a large field, known as a ground, between two teams of 11 players each. For the batting side, the aim is to score as many runs as possible by hitting the ball into the boundary surrounding the field, or running in between the wickets (stumps). The bowling/fielding team can get the batsmen/ women out by striking the stumps or catching the ball after it has been hit. Test matches between England and Australia are known as The Ashes because of a joke obituary published in the Sporting Times in 1822, after England lost to Australia: “In affectionate remembrance of English cricket. … The body will be cremated, and the Ashes taken to Australia.” In 1611 two Sussex men were prosecuted for playing cricket on a Sunday instead of going to church.
DID YOU KNOW? More than 565 cricket clubs in the UK offer cricket to women and girls. Lord’s cricket ground, where cricket has been played since 1814, voted to let women play there in 1998. In women’s cricket games in Victorian times a blue ball was used instead of a red one, as it was thought ladies would prefer the colour.
The info on this page has been sourced from: cricket-rules.com kallikids.com lords.org ecb.co.uk
RUGBY Rugby is a game played by two teams who try to earn points by getting the ball across the opponent’s goal line or kicking it over the crossbar between the goalposts. Rugby is seen most often as Rugby League and Rugby Union. The basic rules of the games are the same, getting the ball over the line to score a try, but each game also has its own specific rules. Rugby Union is played with 15 players on each of the two sides, but teams of 7* or 13** are also common. Aim is to score more points than the opposing team. Players must pass the ball backwards. The fastest throw of a rugby ball was 48 mph (77.25 km/h) and was achieved by Joe Simpson, a professional rugby player for London Wasps, in 2011. * Rugby sevens ** Rugby league
DID YOU KNOW? More than 18,000 women and girls play rugby regularly in England. England Women won the Rugby World Cup in 2014 after beating Canada 21-9. Girls aged Under 12 can participate in mixed mini rugby, played within the RFU Continuum.
The info on this page has been sourced from: kids-sports-activities.com kallikids.com englandrugby.com
This booklet was created by Lewis, a young person from Durham. For more information, please visit: bbc.co.uk/sport/get-inspired sportanddev.org sportengland.org
Fixers is a campaign that helps young people ‘use their past to fix the future’, and is part-funded by the National Lottery through the Big Lottery fund.
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