Island is ‘amazing ambassador’ for women’s sport, says athlete

Island is ‘amazing ambassador’ for women’s sport, says athlete

And triathlete Melissa Messervy-Gross – along with a number of other local female sportswomen and managers – believes that participation rates will increase, thanks to coverage of events such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the NatWest International Island Games.

Team Jersey are due to head to Gibraltar for the 18th Island Games ahead of next weekend’s opening ceremony, among them 124 men and 78 women. Of those, approximately 60 of the athletes are women and 98 are men, with female Islanders representing Jersey at athletics, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, cycling, sailing, shooting pistol, shooting rifle, swimming, squash, ten-pin bowling, table tennis, tennis and triathlon.

Judo, clay shooting and sailing are the only sports in which the Island athletes competing are all male.

Mrs Messervy-Gross, has been involved in Jersey hockey, netball, tennis, horse riding and triathlon, while her two children have been involved in those sports and cricket and football.

She said: ‘I think Jersey is an amazing ambassador for women in sport with huge opportunities and encouragement given to girls and women. Recently I was blown away at how few women there were at a half Ironman race I did and was interested to hear that the brand “Ironman”, which runs races, was opening up more slots for females to qualify for world championships to address this.

‘It made me realise how successful the Jersey Tri Club has been with a few initiatives in encouraging females to take part.’

Libby Barnett, who scored as Jersey secured a bronze medal in Inter-Island football tournament this month, said the coverage of the Women’s World Cup and England’s quarter-final win on Thursday night, could only encourage more young girls to take part.

She said: ‘It’s becoming the turning point for elite women’s football in terms of exposure and I’m excited it’s finally getting the credit and reward it deserves. The only way role models become role models is by making them visible, and the Lionesses have been just that and more.

‘I think Jersey is generally in line with the rest of the UK in terms of female participation.

‘Opportunities for young girls to get involved and try out a multitude of different sports in school, clubs and activities have developed substantially over the past five years through lots of the great work individuals and organisations like Jersey Sport & Jersey FA can now offer.

‘Women’s sport – and women’s football in particular – is dynamic and changing and it’s an exciting time to be a part of that change. While women and girls playing sport and playing football is on the rise, I’d love to see more females representing locally on other levels – coaching, officiating, broadcasting, reporting. The Women’s World Cup has been a great showcase for this so far but we need more people getting involved at grassroots level to continue to drive the standards at the top.’

Meanwhile, Team Jersey manager Morag Obarska said the NatWest International Island Games were a good example of increasing gender equality in sport. And she said that while there were already lots of opportunities for girls and women to participate in sport in Jersey, efforts were being made to improve participation rates further.

‘I think sport in general is trying to equalise,’ she said. ‘At the last Commonwealth Games there was very much an even number of medals available for men and women and I don’t know the inner workings of the international Island Games committee or whether they have looked at that side of it but I think in most sports there are equal opportunities.’

She added that many sports were regularly running initiatives aimed at encouraging girls to get involved, and said that Jersey Sport was focusing on management programmes which would hopefully enable sports to increase their offerings if they then had people to run events, leagues and training.

Shelagh Herbert, Lady Captain of the Royal Jersey Golf Club and the subject of today’s Saturday Interview, said the world of sport was changing but there was still room for improvement.

The club is this year celebrating 125 years of its Ladies Section.

‘I would still love to see women’s sport given more exposure, but again I think that is starting to improve,’ she said. ‘Everything takes time to change, not least people’s perceptions.’

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