STREET LEAGUE X ADIDAS BREAKING BARRIERS GIRLS FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
Girls and women should never face barriers in sport, and I am passionate about removing these to create a level playing field for all athletes, no matter who they are. - Leanne Bates
I am Leanne Bates, Sports Coordinator at Street League London and an adidas Breaking Barriers Champion. The adidas Breaking Barriers Project is a 5-year commitment to breaking down barriers for women and girls across Europe by working directly with non-profit sports organisations (like Street League), empowering local leaders and coaches, and providing the sports industry with the necessary tools to lead change. My role as a Champion is to recruit more girls in our community to take part in sports and to focus on building my coaching techniques to become more inclusive.
Street League has one mission, to use the power of sport and education to help support young people into work. Sport is at the heart of what we do and what makes us successful. We support young people holistically, recognising the inextricable links between well-being, health, and employment. We use the power of sport to help young people, aged 14 to 30, who face personal barriers to employment to improve their welfare, secure employment and have a brighter future. We work in schools, communities, and with employers to equip young people with the confidence, motivation, essential skills, and qualifications needed to succeed in the world of work.
A key element of the Breaking Barriers Project is for us as Champions to develop our own inclusive sports projects, which we implement during our second year using grants furnished by the Project. At Street League, we decided to host an all-girls football tournament in London.
The event was an all-day tournament hosted at Powerleague, Shoreditch, where we welcomed more than 100+ girls and women from our community. On the day, we had two guest athlete speakers that shared their experiences of being a woman growing up in sport. Molly Sharpe, professional football for Crystal Palace, and Jordan Guard, co-founder of Women’s Sports Alliance, both realised they had experienced the same barrier growing up playing football: lack of opportunities for girls.
The success of this event meant a lot to me as I am passionate about breaking down barriers for girls and women in sport, and we were able to do that on a big scale. We still have a long way to go regarding equity for girls and women in sport, but projects like the adidas Breaking Barriers Project, help us work towards that goal of making sport a safer space for everyone.
If you’re a coach, athlete, or sports organisation that would like to join us in breaking barriers for girls and women in sport, sign up for the adidas Breaking Barriers Academy here.
All photos credit to adidas Breaking Barriers Project