Empowering women to overcome their fear of judgement around being physically active, and to be comfortable in their own bodies in public spaces, is a key theme that underpins Richmond’s partnership with VicHealth and it’s This Girl Can – Victoria campaign.
As well as bringing everyday women and their reservations and inspirational fitness journeys to life through our website and social media channels, Richmond recently implemented an eight-week fitness program for female members and the wider community, at Punt Road. The success of this will see the Tigers roll out another program in the shire of Cardinia, at our Pakenham Aligned Leisure fitness centre.
A number of interested female participants attended an industry luncheon earlier this week, hosted by Richmond and VicHealth, designed to discuss the program and the key elements of This Girl Can – Victoria campaign. Key speakers included Premiership Coach, Damien Hardwick, Richmond President, Peggy O’Neal, VicHealth CEO, Jerril Rechter and Cardinia Shire Deputy Mayor, Cr Brett Owen, as well as a panel of five women from a cross section of Victoria. Each of the ladies shared their own fear of judgement, as well as providing thought-provoking ideas as to how we can, as a community, positively contribute to overcoming these fears and making physical activity accessible and enjoyable for all.
“When I was asked to join this campaign, I just thought, ‘gosh this is wonderful, for me being an Aboriginal women and an elder, to get out there and show people that we can do that to.’ It doesn’t matter what age you are, what culture or whatever, just to get out there and do some exercise,” said Yorta Yorta elder, Aunty Pam Pedersen, who first took up running on the eve of her fiftieth birthday.
Richmond’s only female player in the inaugural Victorian Wheelchair Football League, Yasmina McGlone recalls her thoughts when asked to try out for the ground-breaking team. “At first I was in the chair and just concentrating on trying to go straight because I was jerking on the left side, causing me to zig zag and I was doing a performance test! But what was just so good, there was a lot of people I hadn’t met before and they were just so supportive, even though clearly I wasn’t the best.” The Scottish born and raised player spoke for the first time, publicly, about her fears of judgement growing up and how the new competition had given her confidence to speak up in the hope of helping others with disabilities to do the same. “I think it’s really important to focus on your ‘why’, why you are out there doing it. I think it’s so easy to get caught up in the reasons why you shouldn’t give it a go and give up and stay in your comfort zone. It’s much bigger for me now than just getting active. There’s a passion and I love it.”
Mum of Richmond Vice Captain, Alex Rance, Di Rance, has played basketball most of her life through her single days, as a mum to two young children and now as a grandmother. “My family knows, for sure, that basketball is a priority, no matter what grade I play, basketball is a priority,” she says. We (Murray, Alex’s dad) travel to every interstate game, but Murray’s EA knows to never book a flight before 1 pm on a Thursday because I’ve got basketball on a Thursday morning, so we’ve got the priorities right!”
Damien Hardwick believes having a VFLW team and women representing the club has made the place better for everyone. He’s even started using vision of the girls to motivate his team. “There was a girl (from last weekend’s Dreamtime win over Essendon) that ran about 20 metres to lay a spoil on the line and I was trying to find the vision to show our boys that it was a Richmond type of play.”
The Premiership coach is even using his spare time to boost the talent at Tigerland. “I walk my dog at night and often the girls are training and I’ve started recruiting. She looks like a good player, she looks like a good player!”
Richmond FC is a proud partner VicHealth’s This Girl Can - Victoria campaign. If you are interested in signing up to our eight-week fitness program at Cardinia life, click on the link below and follow the prompts:
https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/richmond/EN/link/buy/details/TGCCARD
