Sport4Women

Sport4Women is a new Sport England project delivered by GLL and the council. 

The aim of the project is to increase the number of women 16+ in Tower Hamlets taking part in coached and casual sports sessions.

Objectives

• Regular women only sessions in a range of sports
• Provide coached & casual sessions
• Opportunities for qualifications
• Provide links with sports clubs
• Address barriers to participation
• Address additional cultural barriers
• Sustain through a concessionary scheme

Consultation carried out has shown that there are many barriers discouraging women from taking part in sports activities.  Sport4Women hopes to tackle these issues and provide activities that meet these barriers.

For more details and current sessions taking place download leaflet (pdf 140kb) and see current programme (pdf 574kb)

Coaching opportunities will also be offered to women through this project

Download England Basketball Level 1 Coaching Course (pdf 125kb)

Getting more women into sport

An innovative scheme encouraging more women to get active in Tower Hamlets attracted more than 100 residents at the launch event.

The event at Mile End Park Leisure Centre was held to mark the beginning of Sport4Women, a three year scheme funded by Sport England to increase the number of female adults participating in sports.

The scheme is being run by Tower Hamlets Council in partnership with GLL.

On September 12 participants were invited to take part in free sports and exercise classes including basketball, netball, badminton, Latino aerobics and Boxfit to give them a taster of what the Sport4Women project will involve.

Residents also had the chance to try out free relaxation treatments and find out about weight management and healthy living programmes delivered in Tower Hamlets by other community organisations.

Sonia Gouveia, Sport4Women co-ordinator said: “The launch event was a great success and it was exciting to see so many women interested in becoming involved in the project.  The feedback from the event has been really positive, and the women enjoyed the opportunity to take part in the different sports, many of whom would never have tried them before.  We hope to keep the momentum going and achieve positive long term outcomes with Sport4Women.”

The scheme aims to get 1,400 women active across the borough within three years by providing women only sports sessions in GLL leisure centres and tackling the barriers to participation.

The Sport England funding was set up to bridge the gender gap in sport, with new figures revealing only one in eight women take part in regular sport, compared to one in five men.

This figure decreases to a more worrying one in ten women in some parts of Tower Hamlets. Through Sport4Women participants will be able to attend both coached and casual play sessions, in a female only environment both in the day and evenings with crèche facilities on offer.  Each session will cost £1 only ensuring the project is accessible to all women whatever their circumstances.

New curtains have been installed in all GLL sports halls to help women feel more comfortable during sports sessions.     

For more details about the Sport4Women programme contact sport4women@gll.org or call 020 8709 4429.