Sacred Sports Foundation the non profit charity based in Saint Lucia uses sport to work with disadvantaged Caribbean youth. We are an active and vocal supporter of youth development in the region and work through their sports & social transformation development programmes to champion the rights and values of those most vulnerable in our communities.
Many of the Sacred Sports Foundation programmes encompass an element of mentoring and leadership. Over the past year, we have engaged on a specific girls to women programme aimed at mentoring 13 to 17 year old young ladies through physical education.
The project, supported by the Australian Government’s Sports Outreach Programme, has gone from strength to strength, not without a level of adaptation and change on behalf of the organisation to better mentor the participants.
As we celebrate ‘Thank Your Mentor Day’, the success of the programme is directly related to the tremendous ability of our mentors to adapt and lead.
One of the key aims of the programme has been to tackle gender inequalities in both sport and leadership roles by emphasising the qualities of our female mentors.
The girls in the programme saw a range of mentors work with the programme not just in female coaches but also the programmes administrators and support personnel.
Through a variety of physical activity and lifeskills programmes, a range of mentors were able to break down traditional gender norms and the girls were able to acquire leadership and self esteem through a range of targeted programmes led by women for women.
In response to the girls’ request, the Foundation started an innovative new salsa dance programme, which helped draw in a difficult cohort, girls keen to take part in physical activity but not engage in traditional sports such as netball.
The programme mentors were positive women, who encouraged the girls to take leadership roles and mentor weaker participants. The ability to structure a programme that incorporated a broad range of lifeskills training and leadership mentoring had a significant impact on a challenging group which had been difficult to initially attract.
Participation rates were high and the examples illustrated by mentors helped encourage improvements in self-esteem, communication, motivation, coping mechanisms and healthy lifestyles behaviours.
Key learning’s we continue to focus on moving forward have been:
- The importance for our programmes to ensure the development of quality female role models to help strengthen leadership and equal opportunities.
- Continue to recognize the achievement of girls and women in sport.
- Offer changes for girls to better understand their bodies and appropriate healthy lifestyle behaviours.
- Provide more opportunities for women as leaders in all aspects of our programmes.
A special thank you goes out to mentors around the world. Keep up the good work. You are all valued greatly.
