Sport St Mary’s Celebrate Female Sport Participation

Simmies Girls Can has returned to St Mary’s University, Twickenham to encourage female participation in sport and wellbeing activities, with record breaking numbers of participants.

The annual campaign aims to highlight the different ways female staff and students at the University can access and participate in sporting, physical and wellbeing activity. The week facilitated additional opportunities for students and staff to be active, and help motivate individuals to lead a healthier, more active lifestyle.

This year saw record number of attendees taking part in Simmies Girls Can events thanks to collaborations with clubs such as Netball, Women’s Rugby, Women’s Football, Women’s Lacrosse, Women’s Gaelic, Badminton, Women’s Hockey, Cheerleading, and the Strength Club.

Building on events in recent years, the Women’s Rugby secured funding from the England RFU. This funding allowed Sport St Mary’s to host a rugby sevens tournament, which saw over 50 people take part.

Sports Participation & Volunteer Officer at Sport St Mary’s Simon Jackson said, “Simmie Girls Can has been a major event in the students’ calendar for a few years now, this year we have seen a record number of participants taking part. The campaign is to highlight female participation in sport, our aim for the event is to provide students an opportunity to join in sports they may not usually want to take part in or may not be available to them.”