Saw a Facebook post from Liverpool Football Club regarding girls in sports. I'm sure we all can relate to what is said. Read the transcipt below or visit the website for the full video.
Jurgen: So. What obstacles get in your way, that don't affect boys?
Girl: Sterotypes, like a lot, because girls arne't expected to be able to play football as much as boys can.
Girl: Boys would get more of a chance than girls would.
Girl: There might not be as many teams out there for girls as there is for boys, so if they wanna play for a team, it'll be harder to find one.
Thiago: For what reasons do you think girls might give up sport?
Girl: I've seen girls quit because their confidence isn't as good as it used to be because people have put them down.
Jurgen: The best players in the world, women and men, got more criticism in their life than anybody else because each game is judged by the public. You have to deal with it to stay with yourself to be your most confident version is an incredible skill to have.
Girl: I think boys feel like they've got something to play for when girls feel like they play for themselves.
Girl: I feel left out and they believe the boys can go further than girls in their career.
Girl: In my school, boys train more and get more game time than the girls.
Thiago: Is there pressure for girls to give up sports in their early teens?
Girl: Because if you don't win, then there's always people on your back saying, there's no point, you're never going to win anyway.
Jurgen: Nobody won from the first, from the beginning. Nobody. It's not about succeeding, it's about fighting until you succeed to become the best version of yourself.
Girl: When you play sport in school, it's this whole agenda that you have to be a certain way, or you can't be one way, or you can't be another.
Girl: It's honestly just that feeling of being left out that makes me not want to do it.
Girl: Like on the weekend, we played boys a few months ago, we were playing and they said go make us a sandwich, girls shouldn't be plaing football and all that. I just ignored them and walk away.
Jurgen: Has anyone ever told you that skills you learn from playing sports will help you in later life?
Girl: You could feel good about yourself so your confidence could be better and in general, not just in sport.
Girl: You can take perseverance, if you have an injury on the way, you can come back stronger and have the perseverance to come back and train or build your fitness up again, and stuff like that. You have to have a perseverance to get through it all.
Thiago: What do you think can be done to help girls play on?
Girl: Advertise it more because on TV you see a lot of boys' football but not really much girls'.
Girl: If there's two people who are doing the exact same thing, make sure that the boy isn't favoured or the girl isn't favoured and they're seen as equals instead of competitors.
Girl: But if anyone could help and build up the team, girls wouldn't quit and they'd go on and be big and do whatever they wanted.
Jurgen: You are 100% right, it's our job to make it a bit easier for you, all of you, to, get the opportunity to do what you love.
These are just some of the reasons why twice as many girls quit sport than boys by the age of 14.
But if we keep playing. we'll learn life skills like teamwork, leadership and resillence, so we can unleash our full potential.
Encourage us. Support us. Help us play on.
From stereotyping to lack of confidence, the obstacles that girls face often lead to them dropping out of sports and miss out on learning valuable life skill like teamwork, leadership and resilience. We alongside Standard Chartered say stay on the pitch and stay in the game. Watch the full film at https://www.sc.com/play-on-hub