Women in Sport: Inspiring the Next Generation

To mark International Women's Day, we spoke with Laura Deas, UKAD Athlete Commission member, former skeleton athlete and the first Welsh woman to win a Winter Olympic medal, alongside Professor Vicky Tolfrey, Director of the Centre for Para and Disability Sport Innovation (formerly known as the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport). Here's what they had to say about their journeys in sport and International Women’s Day.

Both Laura and Vicky came to sport through family and school. For Laura, two inspirational female PE teachers made all the difference in helping her find her way in sport: "I grew up not really having to get my head around the idea that some people thought that sport maybe wasn't something for girls or women.”

Vicky's route was a little different. Her father was an athlete at Charnwood Athletics Club in Loughborough, and sport was always a part of life. Her role model growing up was Daley Thompson, because at the time, there simply weren't as many high-profile female athletes to look up to. "My role models now are different to what they were when I was a child," she reflects. "There are lots of great female role models out there now.". 

When discussing how she found her love of sport, Laura describes horse riding and skeleton as two sports where gender didn’t seem to impact participation, something she's grateful for, but she's acutely aware that not every girl has that experience.

"I do a lot of school visits now and it does sadden me when I go into primary schools and I sometimes see — already by Year 5 or Year 6 — there's so many girls that you can just tell by their body language that there's already that inner monologue saying 'this isn't for me, I don't belong here’.”

When at these school visits, Laura is passionate about encouraging girls to get involved in sport and using it as a way to help their confidence grow: "It's about achieving in whatever you want to achieve and feeling good about yourself, but being ambitious in something. Particularly encouraging girls to be ambitious and competitive."

One of the themes running through the conversation is the power of visibility and seeing yourself reflected in the athletes on screen or on the track. Vicky points to London 2012 as a turning point for Paralympic sport, when media coverage helped inspire a whole new generation. She was there herself as part of the ParalympicsGB support team, and recalls how significant that moment felt: "The media took that moment to improve the coverage of the Paralympic Games to inspire young people to engage in sport and physical activity and movement.”

Laura echoes this, noting the difference it makes when major events are broadcast at a reasonable hour. The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics brought skeleton to a far wider audience in the UK, than the previous Games held in Asia. This led to around 7,000 people signing up to try out for skeleton after the Games, when the programme had only expected around 500.

"I think we may have finally reached a tipping point where the majority of the country actually knows what skeleton is," she highlighted.

If there's one thing both women want young girls to take away, it's this: sport is for you, and ambition is not something to apologise for.

As Laura puts it: "Be brave. Be ambitious. Be competitive."