This Girl Can Campaign 2022

Throughout the month of February, the Athletic Union launched a university This Girl Can campaign, which is a national movement supported by Sport England. The purpose of this campaign is to challenge the conventional idea of what exercise looks like and reach out to women of all backgrounds and ethnicities who feel left behind by the stereotypical pathways to getting active. My aims at the University of Exeter were to offer a wider range of oppertunities and support to provide women with the confidence needed to participate in and enjoy sport.

Last month, a number of new classes were launched and thanks to the generosity of those leading them and our Athletic Union, we were able to offer sessions for free or highly subsidised. We hosted self-defence classes, plus-sized fitness sessions, a 6-week basics to barbells programme and para-sport tasters. It was highly encouraging to see students attending these sessions, particularly the basics to barbells programme, which was a sell-out event! As a result, we are hoping to continue offering some of these sessions to augment our student sport experience.

It is great to see our clubs continuing to support women in sport beyond this campaign month. Some of our netball club members, Emily Becconsall and Oriana Simmonds, organised a female-only batty bingo event and managed to raise an impressive £1953.15 for the Malala Fund at this. Additionally, as we celebrated international women’s day on the 8th of March, clubs pulled together to coordinate a day of free taster sessions, in order to encourage more students to try new sports and get involved with their clubs.

Thank you to everyone who supported our This Girl Can campaign and I hope we can continue to  make a difference in female sport.