Amy: Hi I'm Amy Danielle: Hi I'm Danielle
Amy: And today we are talking about women achieving in sport.
Amy: So Danielle, why don't you tell me a bit more about yourself?
Danielle: Professional rugby player with England Women's rugby team. Play 15s and 7s...at the
moment we're training hard cos we're off to Rio. I started playing rugby at the age of 5 but I did all sports. I loved it.
Amy: Where there any challenges?
Danielle: I was very fortunate because I was never made to feel different at the club even
though I was the only girl. I just had a dream to play for England. At the time I probably
thought it was gonna be England men.
Amy: Was there any, kinda, maybe, societal pressure?
Danielle: I had to give up playing rugby with the boys at the age of 12 and there wasn't anybody to play rugby with me. I was the only
girl so I ended up moving away. Moving forward into adult life - officially unemployed for
a year cos I wanted to focus on the 2014 World Cup. Leaving my family at one end of the scale
and also having to leave my job at the other...I always like to say they're choices not sacrifices.
Amy: There is this really bad stereotype that women just aren't as sporty...
Danielle: I think, to be honest, it's mainly around opportunity and erm, confidence and exposure.
Us winning the World Cup, the football girls coming third in their World Cup, the
hockey players being European champions, er plenty of tennis stars so...yeah there's definitely
lots of women that are 'sporty'!
Amy: Traditionally girls are encouraged by their families or maybe teachers to go into more 'girly' things...
Danielle: The role models that they're seeing aren't necessarily the ones that are on a
sports field. Y'know being sweaty, getting muddy but I also think that family members
can be role models; teachers can be role models and peer groups can be role models. You might
be slightly different but you never know who you're inspiring.
Amy: And there's another stereotype that girls who do enjoy that kind of thing, y'know, they
make assumptions about their sexuality or how they present themselves.
Danielle: Yes I've definitely come across those people that make assumptions...I walk
into a room and they say 'oh you don't look like a rugby player!', well, what does a rugby
player look like? The pictures that they have aren't up to date and actually, in sport,
you need to have strength, you need to have muscles.
Amy: It kinda ties into maybe a bigger issue we have with the media where they portray
this one ideal for how a woman should look. Danielle: I remember my brother saying to
me, I had a real kerfuffle trying to find a prom dress; 'Danielle you can either be
really skinny and not very strong or you can have a bit of muscle and actually look quite
good' and he said 'you can achieve your dream and play for England.' - It's about what you
want to do as a personal choice. It's actually how healthy you are on the inside, on the
outside it doesn't really matter.
Amy: During your teenage years that wonderful thing called puberty makes all sorts of magical things happen in your body.
Danielle: It shouldn't stop you and actually it can make you feel better. Even just going
out and having a brisk walk or going for a jog- there's lots and lots of studies around
health and fitness and the endorphins that you get from that and actually you feel loads
better when you finish. The main thing is quite often around the clothes that you wear
- making sure that you are wearing the correct supportive clothing. An investment in a good sports bra is key.
Amy: How do you think we can inspire more young women to get into and stick with sport?
Danielle: It's not necessarily branding it as 'sport' -
netball and hockey and rugby and football, y'know and whatever ones they're
supposed to do...actually sport is more about just being healthy and fit and doing activity.
Encouraging them to have the confidence to go out there and remember there's so many
different reasons for actually doing sport. It's not necessarily because it's your PE
lesson and you have to. Then quite often, having worked in a PE department, you want
to have those ideas from the students - you want young people to come to you and say 'how
about we can do this?' - Right, how do we do it? Is there a local community club? Can
we set up something? That in itself is a really good way of developing life skills. It's finding
something that suits you and something you enjoy and sticking with it. I think that's the key, it's being dedicated.
Amy: What makes a good sportsman, sportswoman or sportsperson?
Danielle: Fundamentally, dedication, erm,
because it isn't glamorous. Whether you're a professional or an amateur athlete you have
to get up and you have to go out and train when you're tired, when you're body's sore.
Enjoyment and seeing the fun side in it; knowing why you're doing it; being happy to be different,
erm accepting that you might not look or you might not do the same as other people and
remember that's a real positive thing. Being prepared to hurt a little bit - it's physically
demanding; it's mentally demanding; it's emotionally demanding. Sport teaches you how to be resilient
and be confident and work hard and get up when you get knocked down. Y'know having a
bit of resilience about you and saying 'y'know it is 'one of those is hurting, it's becoming quite tough but I'm going to stick with it!'.
Amy: Danielle, thank you so much and I will see you next week. Byee! Danielle: Bye!