Women in Sport Newsletter | WISe-news | November 2008 Welcome Getting Involved Continued Whats Happening ‐ Girls only grid at Aussie Junior MX Championship ‐ Gold is our women's best friend ‐ Coast girls grapple for world sumo title ‐ PISBTW Surfing for Girls presented by BILLABONG ‐ Women’s Homeless World Cup ‐ Fox Soccer Channel to show women’s league ‐ Mums’ Tennis Program ‐ Women join Aussie soccer's never‐ending roll Events / Sports and Industry Updates ‐ Women lead charge to sporting life ‐ 2008 Women in Basketball Luncheon & Awards ‐ Body image ‐ Top AFL Victoria Youth Girls honoured in 2008 ‐ New Ideas for the 21st Century: how to coax more women into sport ‐ 2009 Australian Women’s Open ‐ First two women accepted as riders in Vienna's Spanish Riding ‐ Level 1 Boxing Coach Course School ‐ "Women as Leaders in Sport" Networking Program ‐ Equal prize money at Aspen Winter X Games ‐ Women in sport leadership roles : Clearing Hurdles ‐ ICC’s Women’s Rankings Athlete Profiles ‐ Women in Beijing 2008 Paralympics ‐ Gillespie crowned Australian Women’s Motocross Getting Involved Champions ‐ Fair go for fairer sex is latest AFL marker ‐ Brooke begins Andorran adventure ‐ AFL Victoria seeking Youth Girls Teams for 2009 ‐ 2008 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards ‐ Girls catch a new direction ‐ Harriet Brown – Surf Life Saving ‐ Women’s Sport and Recreation Initiative Grants Welcome Top Welcome to the second edition of WISe‐news. In this edition, we look at what is happening with regards to women in sport, we highlight sports and explain how you can get further involved. We also showcase female athletes who are excelling in their choose sport. If you are yet to add your details to the WISe‐news distribution list, please forward your contact details to [email protected] to receive the next edition. It is also appreciated if you can help spread the word and forward WISe‐ news on to other colleagues, clubs, additional contacts and friends. For future editions, if you wish to contribute information or relevant stories to the newsletter, email them through as they come to hand. I look forward to working with you all and keeping you up to date with women’s sport information. WISe‐news is currently distributed quarterly however we require feedback on how often you wish to receive WISe‐news, what stories and articles you wish to read and the type of information you as readers wish to submit. Your comments are valued and will be taken into consideration before the next publication currently due in February 2009. Whats Happening Top Gold is our women's best friend They are Australia's most successful Olympians, they win gold in disproportionate numbers and never more so than at the Beijing Games. Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates can't quite identify why it is that the female members of the team, who make up only 46 per cent of the 433‐strong contingent outperforming men in overall medals 23‐22 with one equestrian medal shared by both sexes. All he knows is that it is not a fluke. Beijing is no aberration, "It's more than cycles," Coates said yesterday. "It's consistent and it's impressive. There has been a single‐mindedness perhaps that has resulted in this success of our women over generations now. It's quite amazing." Of the 204 nations competing in Beijing, Australia is one of only a dozen whose women are outdoing their male team‐mates. That's a giant tick for the land down under as far as Coates is concerned. "I'd like to think it's a good reflection on our society, something we should be proud of, that clearly there are these equal opportunities for women and have been since World War II," Coates said. "For all of our sports, I'd like to think we treat male and female equally and give them equal opportunities and that wouldn't be the case elsewhere, I suppose." 1 Women in Sport Newsletter | WISe-news | November 2008 Despite the fact that it is only in recent Games that the women's Olympic program has even approached the size of the men's, Australia's women make it to the victory podium. Aside from Ian Thorpe, who tops the list with nine medals, all the leading Australian medal‐winners at the Olympics are women Dawn Fraser, Petria Thomas, Susie O'Neill and Leisel Jones, all with eight, with Shirley Strickland running hot on their heels with seven. And of the 16 Australians who have won three or more Olympic gold, 10 are women. True, the competition for men's medals tends to be larger. As of Day 13 of the Beijing Olympics, 63 countries had won medals in men's events, only 56 countries in women's. Certainly the fact that most Muslim countries send no more than token women's teams, if any at all, also takes some of the sting out of women's events, particularly on the track. But the most popular explanation for the superior performance of Australia's women at the Games is that the country's best female athletes tend to be channelled into Olympic sports, netball the obvious exception, while only a fraction of the best male athletes wear the Olympic rings, the majority end up playing a football code or cricket. Anthony Koutoufides was a champion hurdler and high jumper before pulling on the Carlton jumper, Nic Fosdike used to be a champion 1500m runner before running half‐marathons every time he plays for the Swans, while Wallabies Test centre Ryan Cross used to toss heavy metal balls around as a shot putter before taking to slamming the All Blacks into the turf. “In our society, you have to wear that," said Coates, referring to the massive drain of talent from Olympic sports to professional football. "I don't think as a society we've got to object to the fact that basketballers are flowing over to AFL. That's a choice that they make. All our sports can do is to try to attract the appropriate people and to then nurture that talent and keep it in the sport." ‐ Source: (21/08/08) The Australian, Wayne Smith Women’s Homeless World Cup Top (27/08/2008) Eight nations and 100 women from Cameroon, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Kyrgzstan, Uganda, Zambia, Liberia and Paraguay will compete to become the first time champions at the Homeless World Cup (HWC) to be held from December 1‐7 at Federation Square and Birrarung Marr. The HWC aims to use football to energise women who are currently homeless to create the opportunity to change their own lives. It looks to counter the effects of homelessness, encourage the development of community female leadership and increase the capacity for income generation through the creation of social projects. In previous competitions women have made up approximately 10% of the players and created significant change in their lives. Katie Eyles played for Australia in the Edinburgh 2005 tournament and says the tournament helped to turn her life around. “It’s really cool to see more women getting involved with football. President of the HWC Mel Young said that the HWC has demonstrated that sport has tremendous power to change lives, to change the world. By utilising female participation in football as a catalyst for economic opportunity, leadership, and empowerment. Organisers will 1) provide opportunities for individual empowerment to counter the effects of homelessness and exclusion; 2) encourage the development of community female leadership; 3) increase the capacity for income generation through the creation of social projects. 4) Provide opportuntity for women to participate in the Women’s HWC, returning as changemakers. This is the first time the Women’s Cup has been included and organisers would like to see it grow, involve many more nations, and see the women participating become change‐makers, ambassadors and inspirations within their communities. To make a donation to the Women’s HWC visit www.globalgiving.com/womenscup or http://www.homelessworldcup.org/ Fox Soccer Channel to show women’s league Top Women’s Professional Soccer, the new women’s league set to debut in April 2009, has finalized a three‐year partnership with Fox Soccer Channel that will see a minimum of 20 regular‐season games aired on the network, the partnership will give WPS national coverage in 34 million homes through Fox Soccer’s exclusive WPS Game of the Week on Sunday evenings. You can also will see the postseason aired on Fox Sports Net. 2 Women in Sport Newsletter | WISe-news | November 2008 The deal represents a significant change in the value of women’s professional soccer on TV. Both WPS and Fox Soccer believe the deal can help them expand their demographic reach. For the WPS, it gives the league a chance to reach all soccer fans through a network with a predominately male, 18‐to‐49‐year‐old demographic that’s already interested in soccer. For Fox Soccer, it offers the chance to attract a female audience it might not reach otherwise and deepens their offering to soccer fans of all stripes. ‐ Source: Tripp Mickle (6/10/08) ‐ http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/60243 Women join Aussie soccer's never‐ending roll Top Depsite Australia’s female soccer team failing to qualify for the Olympics, the Matildas have scored significant breakthroughs. Matildas recently won the ASEAN Football Federation championship in Vietnam, then wasting no time to be back in Australia for the start of the national competition, the W‐League. As happened with cricket, they have become more formally aligned with the powerful men's game, and in a way that guarantees their exposure and credibility will be enhanced.