Chloe Howe (Upper Sixth)
Photo - Students pictured Alex Aljoe, Sports Presenter
On Monday the 12th September, 15 Sixth Form students were given the opportunity to attend the GSA Girls Go Gold conference at Wycombe Abbey. When we arrived, we were greeted with refreshments and headed into the conference hall to listen to inspirational keynote speakers. Our first talk was presented by Sue Anstiss MBE. She is the founding trustee of the Women’s Sport Trust, and co-founder of the Women’s Sport Collective. Sue delivered a fascinating speech on how women's sport has changed over the years and how, at this moment in time, we are seeing masses of opportunities and better equality for women in sport.
The next speaker was Professor Greg Whyte OBE, a world-renowned sports scientist and Olympian who has raised over £50 million for charity through coaching comic relief challenges. He presented his talk on the biological differences between male and female and the impact that can have on their performances in sport. This showed the importance of considering gender when training to maximise potential. I even managed to have a one to one conversation with Greg about his career path, this conversation helped informed me of routes I could take post university.
Both talks were extremely interesting and inspired my friends and I to keep performing and making positive impacts in our own sports.
After lunch we had a range of activities to choose from: cricket, fitness testing, netball, rugby, lacrosse but also workshops on sports lifestyle and careers in media. These activities encouraged us to partake in new sports, be able to manage our school life around training and look forward to possible careers in the sporting industry. Everyone had a great day meeting new people and learning from professionals about their field, it was a fantastic experience.
Emily Pinkney (Lower Sixth) added: “The GSA Girls Go Gold was an amazing experience that I am very grateful to have been involved in. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the speakers, asking questions and getting involved in all the activities. A particular highlight for me was partaking in the Careers and Media workshop with sport commentator Alex Aljoe, as she gave us a fantastic insight into the world of careers involved in sport. I was also lucky enough to try my hand at rugby with England’s most capped rugby player Rocky Clarkson, who has really inspired me.”
