A lack of opportunities for ethnic girls and women to participate in sport, active recreation, and physical activity in Ōtautahi has inspired two sports-loving individuals, Maria Lankeshwar and Habib Marwat to co-found and develop a sports programme that is inclusive, engaging and fun.

Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa funding has allowed this initiative to become a reality along with the dedication of one local woman, Maria, who has worked tirelessly to get this project off the ground - and the response has simply been incredible.
 
“I had ongoing conversations starting firstly with Habib who was the man with this incredible vision and heart behind wanting to see change for the girls and young women in his community. From there, I had further conversations with a group of ethnic parents and community leaders reaching out to me with a desire and need for their daughters to have opportunities to be able to play sport just as their fathers and brothers do. They wanted help to provide sporting opportunities through a programme for their daughters and extended female family members,” says Lankeshwar.
 
“Sports for ethnic girls are really needed within the ethnic community because they have potential, and they want to play – they can go far within this space, but the structure of New Zealand sport and clubs is not able to accommodate their needs,” says mother Tooba Habib.

“They do get chances to play sport at school, but sometimes it gets expensive, time consuming, or not practical to go to different sports sessions which are scattered all over the city – it gets hard,” adds mother Farial.
 
Together, Maria and the community leaders led by Habib, worked in conjunction to develop a programme to provide sport and recreational activation opportunities for ethnic girls and women in a safe and inclusive environment.
 
The goal is to engage girls who are not involved in any, or very little sport or physical activity and to create an opportunity for non-elite and non-engaged ethnic youth to experience and participate in sporting opportunities for the first time.
 
“I wanted to come along because I always had a passion for sport, but I didn’t have anywhere to play – everywhere I went I wasn’t comfortable, and I just gave up after a while,” says participant Fatima.
 
The programme has been delivered during Term time this year on a Wednesday afternoon at Sporting Edge.

“I wanted to ensure this programme allowed any young ethnic girl or woman to not be excluded from sport or recreation activities anymore for any reason or due to any barriers. I wanted to give them the opportunity to come and be part of this new year-long programme.”

The idea is to build their skills, game knowledge, confidence, and development to provide a pathway for them to integrate into local sports teams and clubs in the future for a range of sports.
 
A wide number of modified sports have been covered over the year with a mix of both summer and winter sports encompassing a range of skills and techniques as well as rules and positions.

The sports that have been included range from football, uni hockey, touch rugby, dodgeball, netball, basketball, cricket, volleyball to the ever-popular badminton.
 
“When I started coming here it was just so cool seeing that there were so many different sports and it’s all girls and no one’s going to judge you – everyone is encouraging,” says Fatima.

“I realised that I was actually good at sports that I didn’t know I was good at – like for example, hockey – I used to hate hockey, but after coming here I feel like I realised that I was pretty good at it, and I started playing with my friends outside these sessions. I also realised basketball and volleyball are pretty fun if you are comfortable with who you are playing with,” she adds.
 
“I’m not really a sporty person but I came here so I could learn how to play more sports and be more active and social – I don’t usually do much except for schoolwork so I thought doing sports would be a nice idea and different,” adds another regular participant, Zainab.

“For me, I always wanted my daughter to try sports, but she couldn’t really do it – so when this came along it was perfect. For one thing, it’s free, second, you get to try all kinds of sports in a very private kind of way, you don’t feel shy, you don’t feel like people are watching or that you are going to be judged by others because most clubs you need to have a basic idea – so this is a good start,” adds Farial.
 
With the project now in its fourth Term, there is now an established group of girls and young women who attend regularly, with more numbers attending than they thought would join in the first year.

But this project is not just building sporting skills, it is also providing these young people and their families with an all-rounded experience that reaches far beyond sport. 

“These sessions are also providing the opportunity for a more balanced lifestyle and allows them to experience the positive impact that sport can have on their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing as well as helping them to overcome day to day barriers and challenges they face,” says Lankeshwar.
 
“Coming to these sports events really helps you socialise, especially if you are a shy person. You will make new friends and you can learn your own talents,” adds Zainab.
 
As a result of the programme’s popularity there is now a platform to expand and bring in many more girls and young women over the next year and to offer more sessions.

Another part of the project that was developed to create another opportunity for these young women to experience and participate in sport and physical activity was a Participation Festival Experience.

It was initiated because many of the girls and young women were engaging in the sports that were being played at the afterschool sessions for the first time in their lives. Having not played any sport previously, they had very little experience and so had to start from scratch when it came to learning the rules, positions, and skills to be able to play the sports and activities offered on a Wednesday.

The first festival was held earlier this year in February which focussed on summer sports while the second one was held in July with a focus on winter sports.

“As they kept learning and developing, we didn’t have to modify the sports so much, and we were able to play competitively.  We saw their confidence grow as they thrived in an environment that allowed them not only to enjoy it and have fun, but also to be competitive.” adds Lankeshwar.
The impact of both the festival and Wednesday afternoon sessions has been far reaching, with some girls going on to sign up for sports at their school – a notion that simply wouldn’t have happened if not for this project.

“There was a young girl who specifically asked to try to be goalie, so I helped her learn that position and the skills and confidence needed to encourage her… as being a goalie is never easy!

“She kept trying it each week and then I got a message from her mum a few weeks later saying she had gone off to school all on her own, signed up for the hockey trials and made the team that played in a school tournament. What I didn’t know was that she initially didn’t like sports at all, and so her mum had brought her to our sessions to start giving them a try. I then found out after the message she went on after that and signed up for the netball team…..you can imagine how much that made me smile,” says Lankeshwar.

But as mentioned, the impact of this project has moved well beyond sport.

“The girls and women represent a huge number of different ethnic backgrounds and normally they might not even know each other, let alone come together and play sports, make new friends and have a great time. That has been a huge highlight seeing underlying boundaries broken down within the ethnic community.”

Maria and the community are very thankful for the funding received, which has enabled this project to happen.

“To truly be able to see the joy, happiness and freedom that has been experienced by these girls and women has been incredible. That’s why we are all so incredibly grateful to Sport Canterbury and for the Tū Manawa fund. To allow the vision and project we had put forward to come to pass and make happen.”

Find out more about Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa funding - Click here 

Article added: Wednesday 12 January 2022