OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH ADIDAS

Girls who play sport are better positioned to tap into their full potential, igniting a life of purpose, collaboration and leadership. Yet, women and girls still face systemic barriers day after day that keep them out of the game and off the pitch.

That is why in 2021, Street League joined the adidas Breaking Barriers Project, a multi-year project focused on breaking down barriers in sport for women and girls throughout Europe. The project is supporting 15 local sport organisations and over 100 Breaking Barriers champions, local leaders and role models, in order to positively impact the lives of 50,000 women and girls.

As part of this project, Street League staff from across England and Scotland are enrolled in an extensive training programme, delivered by Common Goal and Women Win, focused on organisational change to become more inclusive and equitable. We are also working to develop and deliver an action plan to improve our gender equity, diversity and inclusion practices at Street League. A number of Street League ‘champions’ (role models and leaders) are going through leadership training and, in the summer of 2022, hosted an impactful football tournament for girls in London to increase girls’ participation in sport and in our programmes.

Street League has already come a long way from 3% of our participants being women and girls to 33% in 2021. We aim to reach 50% by 2026. Creating a safe and inclusive environment for all staff and young people is core to our charity’s values and commitment. The Breaking Barriers Project is very important to us at Street League and we’re delighted to be working with adidas to change young women’s lives through sport.