Girls United team win the student Community Action award, supported by Mayor of London, for #FindYourGame in the King’s Civic Challenge
Girls United project group presenting at City Hall
The #FindYourGame project responds to the low number of girls aged 13-16 who meet recommended activity levels daily. With the awarded £5,000, Girls United will launch local outdoor workshops to empower young women to feel more confident and develop leadership skills, while realising the benefits of sport to their personal journeys.
Presenting the award to the Girls United team, Truly Johnston, Senior Manager, Team London (Volunteering), Greater London Authority, explained that the team’s pitch showed a strong vision and a clear plan for a practical idea that addressed a real need.
Seeing the presentations this afternoon really shows the power of bringing people together and sharing ideas for initiatives that can support and enhance communities.
- Truly Johnston, Senior Manager, Team London (Volunteering), Greater London Authority
The Girls United team was made up of five diverse individuals who worked together since October 2019 to co-create solutions to deliver positive change by our local community in Lambeth.
Halh Al-Serori, Cancer Research Associate at King’s College London
Laura Walmsley, MA Arts and Cultural Management at King’s College London
Alexander Hickman, Clinical Trial Feasibility Associate at King’s College London
Abigal Ingram, London Club Manager at Girls United
Camilla Johnsen, Marketing Strategy Manager at Girls United
The team was also supported by Laura Rawstorne (Julve), Deputy Director, working on social mobility outreach at the Department of Education.
Using my skills and knowledge to help bring an idea to the table for this challenge for the charity has been a really enjoyable one. I have wanted to become involved in a community based project for a couple of years now and I am so glad that this was offered by the uni and I was able to take part.
I feel fantastic and proud that we won. I’m happy that we have secured funding for something that really matters to me.
- Alexander Hickman, Clinical Trial Feasibility Associate at King’s College London
About the #FindYourGame project
Girls United’s #FindYourGame project builds on the existing three pillars of Girls United - Explore, Inspire and Empower.
The girls will Explore new ways of learning and find their game through a series of outdoor workshops that involve dynamic activities aimed at raising career aspirations. These will develop skills like assertive communication, teamwork and leadership - starting without a ball, then slowly bringing a football into the mix.
By exploring the benefits of sport to their personal journeys, the workshops will Empower the girls by challenging their negative perceptions of what sporty means, changing their mindset from CAN’T do, to CAN do. They will be empowered with new skills and knowledge, feeling confident to tackle any challenges that come their way.
#FindYourGame will Inspire the girls by involving female mentors from King’s throughout the programme to help the girls expand their view, opening their eyes to a world of opportunities both in career paths and ways to lead an active lifestyle.
I am lucky to have support of my mother, my role model and one of the strongest people I know, and for this reason I know how important it is to have a role model for inspiration and guidance. I believe #FindYourGame will help create an environment where women can have a voice in economic, political and cultural issues. This project can make a lifelong difference to not only an individual’s life but to the larger society.
- Halh Al-Serori, Cancer Research Associate at King’s College London
Research shows that levels of sports participation among teenage girls is lower than that of teenage boys. (1) Only 10% of girls aged 13-16 meet recommended activity levels daily. In particular, girls from low socioeconomic and BAME backgrounds are more likely to be less active than their peers. (2) #FindYourGame will engage with this national issue at local level. The project will target inactive girls within the local communities of Westminster, Southwark and Lambeth and engage with the particular barriers preventing sports participation within these communities, while highlighting the multidimensional benefits of physical activity. Girls United have seen first-hand the drop-off in participation of teenage girls in these areas. #FindYourGame will positively benefit girls from all backgrounds, including those from low socioeconomic and BAME backgrounds. In Lambeth, for example, 60% of the population describe their ethnicity as other than white British. 31% of the population of Lambeth live within the 20% most deprived areas in England (3). Consequently, a large demographic of girls identified as the most likely to be inactive live in the locality and could benefit from #FindYourGame. Inactive girls miss out on the positive impact of sports participation to the development of skills, physical health and general wellbeing. There is, therefore, the need within the community for a project that can encourage and facilitate the involvement of local inactive 13-16 year old girls in physical activity.
I was very happy to be partnered with Girls United and couldn’t wait to get going on our project. The goal of levelling the playing field on and off the pitch is one that I feel passionate about and this passion was shared by all members of the team. Our project will have a positive impact in the local community and reach a demographic of girls who often feel left out of sport because of a lack of confidence and opportunity. We are excited to put our plans into action and see our workshops become a reality!
- Laura Walmsley, MA Arts and Cultural Management at King’s College London
In taking part in the King’s Civic Challenge, Girls United set out empower inactive girls in our local London community and are excited to make this project a reality with the newly awarded Mayor of London funding.