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Women in Sport week: Get Out Get Active women- Julie's story

Women’s Sport Week takes place between 19- 25 June. Although the campaign comes before a packed summer of elite sport, the Get Out Get Active (GOGA) programme is making waves at grassroots level across the UK. To mark the week, GOGA is celebrating some of the fantastic women working on the programme. Today, we hear from Julie from Women in Sport, about her aspirations for GOGA.

Julie joining in with a session

GOGA, funded by Spirit of 2012, is an exciting new programme that supports disabled and non‑disabled people to take part in fun and inclusive activities together. It aims to make activity more appealing for everyone. Working in 18 different areas across the UK, partners are delivering over 30,000 sessions over three years.

The Women’s Sport Week campaign encourages the public to have fun and celebrate this vintage summer of women’s sport by watching, listening, volunteering and taking part in sporting activities. Those involved hope the campaign generates debate and encourages people to show their support, in order to help more women and girls reach their full potential through sport.

The charity Women in Sport is providing expert insight and support to all GOGA partners to better engage girls and women in inclusive active recreation. They tailor support for a number of localities and offer practical solutions to the challenges in guiding women and girls into activities. It includes marketing and communications, programme design and delivery, retaining participants, utilising influencers, and monitoring and evaluation. As well as local workshops, Women in Sport provide informal learning sessions.

Julie Bunnage, Innovation Manager – GOGA at Women in Sport

My role involves getting to know the locality leads really well. It’s important for me to get a feel for the dynamics of each community and to understand their specific challenges and triumphs. Working collaboratively is a key part of my role so that we can gather insights into the motivations and barriers for inactive people in each community including their personal activity journeys and value systems.

I hope to use this privileged opportunity to explore innovative ways to engage disabled women and girls in sport and activity. We’re drawing on our insights such as the Small Changes, Big Difference report (EFDS, British Blind Sport and Women in Sport, 2016) to assess physical activity provision and if necessary recommend changes to increase demand and improve accessibility. I’m looking forward to taking the lead to facilitate a Toolkit for Change that captures what works well and will form the basis for targeted work with women and girls post-2020.

I’ve recently become a Yoga fan. It’s simply the best way to develop my core fitness and to recharge or calm down my inner spirit! It usually works best when I’ve completed a round of recreational golf!

If you are passionate about making a difference, it usually means that you have recognised that some changes need to be made. Thrive off that inner excitement and it will drive you though the challenges until you find that someone else is celebrating your achievements!

Find more information by emailing the team or calling 01509 227750. Follow the campaign on #WSW2017 or GOGA conversation on #GetOutGetActive.