Northern Beaches Council Hosts Girls Get Active Day

Sport NSW and Northern Beaches Council joined forces to present a Girls Get Active Day on Thursday 22 June. The event, designed to encourage more girls to benefit from participation in sport and recreation, took place at Pittwater Rugby Park and involved 85 girls from three local high-schools, six champion female athletes and six different sports.

The Girls Get Active event commenced at 9:30am where athletes Amy Sommerville (netball), Chloe O’Brien (football), Emily Leys (cricket), Maddie Spencer (surf life saving), Sarah Johnston (hockey) and Shanice Parker (rugby union) engaged in a panel discussion to inspire the audience of female high-school students to participate in sport and active recreation.

At the conclusion of the panel discussion, the students had the opportunity to meet the panellists and experience the various sporting activities on offer including Australian rules football, cricket, football, golf, hockey and rugby union.

Sport NSW and Northern Beaches Council are committed to supporting the future growth and development of sport and active recreation, which in turn sees people enjoy the benefits provided and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Girls Get Active events provide a unique opportunity for young females to engage with women achieving success in the sporting domain and to try a range of sports in a safe environment, with each station facilitated by the panellists and/or staff from the state sporting organisations.

Sport NSW Chief Executive Officer Darren Simpson was thrilled to collaborate with Northern Beaches Council for the Girls Get Active Day and was hopeful that the event encouraged the female students to participate in sporting activities within their local community.

“The Northern Beaches is a leading sporting region in NSW and Sport NSW was delighted to host this event in conjunction with one of its first Local Government Members, Northern Beaches Council,” Mr Simpson said.

“The Girls Get Active program focuses on ensuring females feel encouraged and empowered to explore the sporting opportunities available to them, and I hope these successful young sports women inspired the girls to pursue their own sporting dreams.”

Northern Beaches Council Administrator Dick Persson AM said increasing female participation in sport helped achieve one of the community’s most important priorities, inclusiveness.

“With one in five children identified as overweight or obese, all levels of government including Council have a responsibility to encourage sporting activity.

“Promoting health and wellness is important in our community and getting more young people interested in playing sport regularly is one of the best gifts we as community leaders can help provide,” Mr Persson said.

Event photos can be found HERE.