During the month of October, at LSBU Active – we are so pleased to have been celebrating ‘This LSBU Girl Can! The ‘This LSBU Girl Can’ initiative is a movement which celebrates females in sport, with the purpose of encouraging other women who may not have had the confidence to try something new and get involved.  

For us, a key part of this campaign was to promote female involvement in sport across the University by distributing some fantastic ‘This Girl Can’ t-shirts for girls to wear in sports sessions and around campus. Additionally, we wanted to shine a light on our female sport captains from various sports clubs and find out why they think other females should get involved. We asked our captains what being in sport means to them, and what they get out of leading their teams and going to training. Here’s what they had to say….

“Hi, I’m Elisha, the co-captain of women’s basketball. One thing I get out of sport is having a leadership role. I’m able to work with others to organise games and things that are fun. I also get the chance to communicate with women inside the sport and see how they deal with life. Normally I don’t talk to many people like that – but in sport we have that communication and family bond.” Elisha Dawes, 2nd year Bachelor of Arts in Education student. 

“Hi, I’m Danya, I’m the netball vice-captain of our BUCS team. I joined netball in my first year, I was originally just looking to keep fit – but I really enjoyed making close friendships, hanging out with the girls socially and obviously improving my health and fitness too!” Danya Casaleggio, 3rd year psychology student.

We also caught up with one of our fantastic female sports ambassadors who leads our community programmes. Pamela said “Sports coaching has had a positive impact as I have been able to apply and develop my knowledge as a Sport Science student. Planning sessions has been rewarding as I get to see the impact it has on the participants in my sports coaching sessions. As a female sports coach, I feel supported and respected when trying new innovative ways of coaching, whilst distancing from traditional coaching practices.” Pamela Carreno, School of Applied Science, Sports and Exercise Science, 3rd Year student.

Here’s to a fantastic celebration of the This LSBU Girl Can campaign!