GSA Girls Go Gold Conferences, September 2018

Look around GSA Girls Go Gold Conferences, September 2018

Elite women’s sports teams from the UK are reaching ever greater heights in world sport. From well-established competitors in, for instance, Rowing, to the stunning recent successes in Olympic Hockey and Commonwealth Games Netball, girls are being inspired by the consistent achievement of the home nations in all sorts of sports. Essential to this is the way sport is regarded in schools and the provision of opportunities for participation at every level. GSA has taken a lead in this with its Girls Go Gold events, the first of which took place at Lady Eleanor Holles School in 2010. This year’s Conferences are hosted by Bolton School and Tudor Hall School. John Newbould gives an idea of the enthusiasm building for the Bolton event.

Bolton School will host the prestigious Girls Go Gold Conference on Thursday 13th September, an annual event organised in conjunction with the Girls’ School Association (GSA), which attracts hundreds of elite sportswomen in Years 10-13 who represent their county or country in their chosen sport, as well as those girls studying GCSE and A Level PE in GSA schools.

In what promises to be a motivating and thought-provoking day, there will be two keynote speakers: Sam Quek MBE, England hockey Gold medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and 3000m and 5000m Olympic athlete, Eilish McColgan.

The overarching theme for the day will be ‘Where Sport Can Take You’, and a variety of speakers and workshops will illustrate the many career paths in sport. University staff will run four practical sessions on sports and biomechanics testing, sports intervention, sports rehabilitation and physiotherapy. Manchester Thunder youth coaches Phil Owen and Suzanne Bass will lead a netball masterclass, and Dr Lindsay Hill will lead a podiatry session. Victoria Screaton, BBC Sport Producer, will talk about TV sports production and BBC Sports Presenter John Watson will lecture on sports journalism and TV presenting. Sports Departments from a large number of Universities will be in attendance, including Loughborough, Liverpool John Moores, Chester, Bolton, UCLAN, Liverpool Hope and Edge Hill. Girls will have the opportunity to learn about overseas sports placements as an alternative pathway, to develop both academic and sports scholarship opportunities in the USA through Sporting Chance USA.

Headmistress of the Girls’ Division at Bolton School, Miss Sue Hincks, said: ‘We are very excited to host, once again, the renowned Girls Go Gold Conference. We look forward to welcoming a wide range of speakers who will inspire the young elite sportswomen from across the region. The aim of the day will be to motivate girls to believe that anything is possible with

Sam Quek

Eilish McColgan

lots of hard work and the right mental attitude to develop their talent.’

The second GSA Girls Go Gold Conference will be held the next day, Friday 14th September, at Tudor Hall School in Oxfordshire, with key note speakers James Shone, founder of the charity, ‘I Can and I Am’; Gail Emms MBE, Badminton Silver Medallist 2004 Olympics; and Clare Balding OBE, BAFTA Special Award and RTS Presenter of the Year Award.

As well as attending the keynote speeches, each delegate will have a practical functional movement session where they will be screened and given their own tailored programme to help focus on areas specific to their own body. To cap it all, the delegates will participate in a practical workshop with one of the following great athletes: Laura Merrifield, Co-Captain England Lacrosse, gold medal European Championships 2012; Becky Middleton and Zoe Shipperley, GB hockey players; Tamsin Greenway, England Netball International; Harrriet Millar-Mills, England Rugby international; and Aimee Fuller, Olympic Snowboarder, Team GB.

Stuart Armstrong, Head of Coaching at Sport England, will be hosting workshops for accompanying teaching staff about looking at the whole, rounded individual and how too much specialisation at an early age can be counter-productive.

At lunchtime Sports Fair, there will be stalls from universities, sporting bodies, sports-related brands, competitive games and an opportunity to wind down thanks to our massage therapists.

The event will conclude with a Q and A session with all our athletes hosted by Clare Balding.

Past speakers at GGG have included hockey star Alex Danson (2016) and heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson (2015)