Valley Sport is involved in Sport & Recreation Victoria’s Gender Equality in Victorian Sport and Recreation Pilot Program. Now in its second year, the Victorian Government funded initiative aims to build inclusive sport and recreation environments that support women and girls to play and be involved in the sports they love in a safe, supportive and empowering environment. The program can be tailored to your sporting club, based on the vision, goals and needs of your club, as well as seeking to meet the standards of best practice for clubs moving forward in the gender equality space. Valley Sport will be working closely with interested clubs and sporting associations within the Goulburn Valley to address, improve and trial innovative, new approaches which will aim to not only attract new players, but also better the current experiences that females at your club are already involved in. The program is not only targeting on-field/active participation, but also involvement in senior levels of club administration and day-to-day operations at your local club.
Regional Sport Victoria and VicHealth have put together a checklist ‘Women and girls in sport: Quick wins for community clubs’. Valley Sport works with clubs to complete this checklist to increase awareness of club administrators, and to challenge existing beliefs, assumptions and practices – that may be unconscious, automatic and historical. The resource helps clubs take action to increase promotion, participation and leadership opportunities for women and girls.
Clubs interested in making environments more safe, welcoming and inclusive for women and girls are encouraged to contact Valley Sport on (03) 5831 8456.