Network She - Women in Sport Conference at Adventure Parc Snowdonia
It’s all about helping one another to move forward
What does empowerment look like to you?
Last week we welcomed over 120 wonderful women of all ages through our doors – from 14-year-old students through to marathon running 80-year-olds, and many more wonderful women in between.
We were delighted that these great women brought along some brilliant men to be our guests, too.
They were all at Adventure Parc Snowdonia to attend our Women in Sport conference, which we hosted in partnership with North Wales business group, Network She.
We reckon this group of amazing people represents everything empowerment should be about. Supportive, inspiring, positive, encouraging, interested and interesting, and totally unjudgmental. Believers in saying ‘yes’, why not’ and, ‘come on, let’s do it’.
This very special one-day event brought together amateurs and professionals who love sport, individuals and groups who want to get more involved with sport and help others to do the same. It explored some really pertinent issues – from the physical and mental health benefits of being active, to barriers to entry and participation.
The day’s agenda also looked at media coverage of women and girls in sport, what progress has been made (mainstream coverage of this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup is a good example), and what is still to be done. Why don’t we fund and reward women and girls in sport in the same way we fund and reward men and boys? How and when will this change, and what can we do to make it happen?
Our guest list included local youth groups, national outreach networks, schools, colleges, and individuals including Wales Rugby Union players – lovely to see former WRU captain Rachel Taylor again – as well as coaches, development officers, parkrun organisers, run club members, a taekwondo sensei, dedicated PE teachers, teaching assistants, headteachers and representatives from organisations like Cricket Wales, Our Squad, Sported and Street Games.
The conference concluded with an opportunity for all of our conference guests to try out an activity with us. Great fun was had stand-up paddle boarding and surfing, and a lucky few even got the opportunity to try out our brand-new artificial caving system which opens at Adrenaline Indoors later this summer.
WOMEN IN SPORT – WHY THE NEED FOR A CONFERENCE?
According to research carried out by Sport Wales, there is still a huge gender gap when it comes to sport participation in the UK.
Around two million fewer 14-40-year-old women than men engage regularly in a sport or activity. That’s despite the fact that 75% of women and girls say they want to be more active. Confidence is often cited as the main barrier to taking part.
It seems such a waste of potential – not just of what women could achieve, but of the happiness, health, joy and sense of achievement they could feel. We hope our Women in Sport initiative will go some way to help bridge that gap.
Nurturing female talent in what has traditionally – but not exclusively – been male-dominated sports, is something we take seriously, every day of the year. The success of Adventure Parc Snowdonia relies on the talent and drive of a whole bunch of wonderful women, from our expert coaches to our marketing department and our customer services team.
Want to find out more? Don’t be shy! We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us on info@adventureparcsnowdonia.com
