Wicklow Sports & Recreation Partnership hosted their first ever Active Girl Guide event on Thursday, February 16th, on the Bray Institute of Further Education (BIFE) campus.
The event saw over 100 teenage girls gather from all over Wicklow to attend an active learning day aimed to teach them more about how to fuel their bodies, care for their minds and train effectively during their menstrual cycle.
The day was packed with classes led by top Irish experts including, Irish international basketball player Hannah Thornton, Dr Kiera Ward and Ruth Kavanagh of EduFit, BIFE Sport Co-Ordinator Jennifer Campbell and Bar Monkey founder Jamie Geraghty.
BIFE lecturer Charlie Batt was the MC of the day and opened the event with an inspiring chat with LGFA All Star Mary Hulgraine where she talked about her love of sport, impressive life accomplishments and also opened up about her past battles with drug and alcohol addictions and struggles with depression. She finished the speech with a key takeaway for the girls, “The main thing if you ever have an issue is to talk. You cannot solve the problem on your own, I can’t do what WE can do. It took me 28 years to speak about something, and once I did the weight dropped off my back.”
The girls were then separated into groups and attended classes covering topics such as Sports Nutrition, Mobility & Calisthenics, Strength & Conditioning 101 and, Training & The Female Cycle.
“The aim of this event was to help young women better understand their bodies” said Wicklow Sports & Recreation Partnership’s Sports Coordinator, Aisling Hubbard. “We wanted to demystify training around your menstrual cycle and instead teach these young women that it can be something that can actually be used to positively impact their training.”
Director of Service, Micheal Nicolson spoke highly about the day stating, “Unfortunately study after study shows there are continually large portions of teenage girls dropping out of sport. We hope more educational days, like the Active Girl Guide event, will help counter this trend.”
Chief Executive of Wicklow County Council, Mr Brian Gleeson noted that “Sport plays such an important role in our lives. Aside from its obvious physical and mental health benefits, it brings people together and offers opportunities to make lifelong friendships.”
Cathaoirleach of Wicklow County Council, Cllr Tommy Annesley, added “I would like to congratulate the Wicklow Sports & Recreation Partnership team on organising such an engaging event. The quality of speakers matched with BIFE's fantastic facilities made it a thoroughly enjoyable day for all that attended. ”
